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liojiorary Cosninitjee; anr: A 
Mcrolier r;'the Military S' 

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aiST OF r'>UBLICATIONS. 



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LiL.. r>. 

Master of Art*, Columbia College, of Xew York, 1872— Hon. Mom. Clarendon Hl«t. Soo., KSinhurKh, Scotland ; of the New Broiuwick 

Hl»t. Soc.. St. John, Canada: of the Hint. Soo. of Minnesota, Montana, New ,Ioney. ic: Life Mem. Royal HIsU Soc. of 

Oreat Britain, lx)ndon. Eng.; Mom. Moat'ohappij Nederlanduche, I^ttorkunde, l>eydcn. Holland, to., Ac— Colonel 

N. Y. S. I., 1946, aiulgned for "meritorious noitduct" to command or tlii Regimental Di«trict, M. F S, N. Y., 

1*»9, Brigadier Oeniiral for'i»»/)or(ait<»eniice"|nr»t appointment— in NY. State— to that rank, hliher. 

to elective], 18i>l, M. F. 8. N. Y.— Adjutant General, S N. Y., IfvV).— Brevet Major-Gencral. 

3. K. Y., for "merilorioru tcrvices." by "Special .\ci" or "Concurrent Resolution," 

X. Y. State Legislature, .\pril, lafiG [first and only General ofBcer receiving 

moh an honor (the highest) from S. N. Y., and the only offlcer 

" !»«« brevetted (Major-General) in the United Slates.] 

AUTHOR OF 

Reports— ist. On the Organizations of the National Guards and Municipal Military Institutions of 
Europe, and the Artillery and Arms best adapted to the State Service, 1852. (Reprinted by order 
irf the N. Y. State Legislature, Senate Documents, No. 74, March 26, 1853.) 2d. Organizations of 
the English and Swiss Militia, the French, Swiss, and Prussian Fire Departments. Suggestions 
Tor the Organization of the N. Y. Militia, &c. 1853. 
Life of (the Swedish Field Marshal ) Leonard Torstenson ( rewarded with three splendid Silver Medals, 
&C., by H. "R. M. Oscar L, King of SwedenV 1855.— Thirty Years War, and Military Services of 
Field-Marshal Generalissimo Leonard Torstenson (Series), N. Y. Weekly Mail, 1873; A Hereof the 
XVI L Century (Torstenson).— The Volunteer, Weekly Mag., Vol. L,No. L, 1869.— The Career of the 
celebrated Condottiere Fra Moreale, Weekly Mail, 1873.— Frederic the Great. (Series.) Weekly Mail , 
1873. — Eulogy of Torstenson, 4to., 1872. 
The Dutch at the North Pole, and the Dutch in Maine. 1857. 
Appendix to the Dutch at the North Pole, &c. 1858. 

Ho, for the North Pole! i860.— " Littell's Living Age."— The Dutch Battle of the Baltic. 1858. 
The Invincible Armada. (Series.) i8fo.— Examples of Intrepidity, as illustrated by the Exploits and 

Deaths of the Dutch Admirals. (Series.') 1860-1. Military Gazette. 
Gems from Dutch History. (Series.) 1855.— A Tale of Leipsic, Peabody's Parlor Mag., 1832. 
Carausius, the Dutch Augustus, and Emperor of Britain and the Menapii. 1858. 
The Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Netherlanders. 1859. 
Address to the Officers of the New York State Troops. 1858. 
Life of Lieut. -Gen. (famous "Dutch Vauban" — styled the "Prince of Engineers'") Menno, Baron 

Cohorn. (Series.) i56o.— Military Lessons. (Series.) 1861-3.— Winter Campaigns. 1862. 
Practical Strategy, as illustrated by the Life and Achievements of a Master of the Art, the Austrian 
Field-Marshal, Traun. 1863.— Personal and Military History of Major-General Philip Kearny, 
512 pp., 8vo. 1869. — Secession in Switzerland and the United States compared ; being the .Annual 
Address, delivered 20th October, 1863, before the Vermont State Historical Society, in the Hall of 
Representatives, Capitol, Montpelier. 1864. 
Incidents connected with the War in Ttaly. (Series.) 1859. 
Mortality among Generals. (Series.) i8fii. — The Rattle of King's Mountain. (Series.) i86r-2, 1880. 

Oriskany, 1878— Monmouth, 1878— Rhode Ishnd, 1878. 
Facts or Ideas Indispensable to the Comprehension of War; Notions on Strategy and Tactics. (Series.) 1861- 
2. Eclaireur, Military Journal. (Edited.) 1854-8.— In Memoriam. (Edited.) tst, 1857 ; 2d. 1862. 
The Bible in Prison. 1853.— A Discourse on the Tendency of High Church Doctrines. 1855. 
A Night with Charles XII. of Sweden. A Nice -Young Man. Parlor Dramas. i8fo-T. 
Aciilco, Oriskany, and Miscellaneous Poems, i860. 
Genealogical References of Old Colonial Families, &c. 1851. 

Biographical Notices of the de Peyster Family, in connection with the Colonial History of New ^■ork. 
1861. — Biographies of the Watts, dc Peyster, Readc, and Leake Families, in connection with 
Trinity Churchyard. 1862.- Military (177^-1779) Transactions of Major, afterwards Colonel 8th or 
King's Foot, B. A., Arent Schuyler de Peyster and Narrative of the Maritime Discoveries of his 
namesake and nephew, Capt. Arent Schuyler de Peyster, N. Y., 1870.— Local Memorials relating to 
the de Peyster and Watts and aflTiliated families. 1881.— In Memoriam, Frederic de Peyster, Esq.. 
LL.D., Prcst N. V. Historir.il Sncirty. St. Nicholas Society. St. Nichol.is Cliih, &c., Ac. 1882. 



Articlks published in United Service Magazine (equal in matter to i2mo. volumes) : Torstenson and 
the Battle of Janikau, July, 1879 ; Joshua and the Battle of Beth-horon — Did the Sun and Moon 
stand still? February, 1880; Hannibal, July, 1880; Gustavus Adolphus, Sept., 1880; Cavalry, 
I., Sept., 1880 ; Cavalry, II., Nov., 1880 ; Cavalry, III., Dec, 1880; Army Catastrophes — Destruc- 
tion of Pharaoh and his host ; how accomplished, &c., &c. February, i88i. — Hannibal's Army of 
Italy, Mar., 1881 ; Hannibal's Last Campaign, May, 1881 ; Infantry, I., June, i88i ; Infantry, II., 
Aug., 1881 ; Battle of Eutaw Springs, 1781, Sept., 1881 ; Siege of Yorktown, 1781, Nov. 1881 ; 
Infantry, III, April, 1882; Waterloo, July, 1882; Vindication of James Hepburn, Earl of Both- 
well, Sept., 1882, Oct., 1882 ; From the Rapidah to Appomattox Court House, July, 1883. — Burgoyne's 
Campaign, July-Oct., 1777, and Appendix, Oct., 1883. — Life and Achievements of Field-Marshal Gene- 
ralissimo Suworrow, November-December, 1883. — Biographical Sketch of Maj.-Gen. Andrew Atkinson 
Humphreys, U. S. A., March 1884. — Address, Maj.-Gen. A. A. Humphreys, before the I'hird Army 
Corps Union, 5th May, 1884. Character and Services of Maj.-Gen. A. A. Humphreys, U. S. A., 
Manhattan, N. Y., Monthly Magazine, August, 1884. 

Suggestions which laid the basis for the present admirable Paid Fire Department in the City of New 
York, in which, as well as iij the Organization of the present Municipal Police of New York 
City, Gen. de Peyster was a co-laborer with the Hon. Jas. W. Gerard, and G. W. Matsell, for 
which latter Department he caused to be prepared and presented a Fire Escape, a model of sim- 
plicity and inestimable utility. Republished in the New York Historical Magazine. Supple- 
ment, Vol. IX , 1865. John G. Shea, Editor ancf Proprietor. 

The Pearl of Pearls, or the "Wild Brunswicker" and his "Queen of Hearts :" a novel, founded on 
facts. 1865.— Mary Stuart : a Study. 1882 ; James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell : a Vindication, 
1882 ; Bothwell and Mary Stuart : an Enquiry and a Justification. 1883. — Bothwell, an Historical 
Drama, 1884. — The Life and Military Services of Sir John Johnson, Bart. 1882. — Notices and Corre- 
spondence of Col. A. S. de Peyster and Brig.-Gen. Sir John Johnson, Bart., during and after the 
American Revolution, 1776, &c. 1884. 

State Sovereignty. 1861. — Life and Services of the great Russian Field-Marshal Suworrow. 1882. — 
La Royale, the Grand Hunt [or Last Campaign of the Army of the Potomac], Nos. I., II.. III., 
IV., v., VI., 1872 ; VII., 1873; VIII., 1871.— Battles of Fredericksburg, ChancellorsviUe and Get- 
tysburg in Onwardy a monthly. i869-7o.^And Gettysburg and Williamsport, in the Soldiers' 
Friend^ a weekly, 1870. — Col. J. Watts de Peyster, Jr., U. S. V., A Threnody. 1874.— Sir John 
Johnson, Bart.: An Address delivered before the N. Y. Historical Society, 6th Jan., 1880, with 
two voluminous Appendices of Authorities. 

Centennial Sketches of the American Revolution, which appeared in the N. Y. Times, and especially in 
the N. Y. Evening Mail, and Mail and Express. 1776-82. — Decisive Conflicts of the late Civil War 
or " Slaveholders' Rebellion:" I. Shiloh, Antietam, &c , 1867 ; II. Murfreesboro to Chattanooga, &c., 
1866; III. Gettysburg, 1867; IV. Nashville, 1876.— Biographical notices of Major-Generals Philip 
Schuyler — Address delivered before the N. Y. Historical Society, 2d Jan., 1877; Geo. H. Thomas, 
(likewise two Addresses delivered on the same subject before the N. Y. Historical Society, 5th Jan. 
1875, and Jan. 1876) ; also, of Bancroft, Burnside, Crawford, Heintzleman, 'looker, Humphreys, 
McAllister, Mahone, Meade, Edwards Pierrepont, Pleasanton, Sickles, Tremaine, &c., Ac. 

The Battles of Monmouth and Capture of Stony Point : a series of voluminous and exhaustive articles 
published in the Monmouth Enquirer, N. J., 1879.— Eclaireur (The), A Military Journal, Vols. 
II. and III., edited 1854-5. 

History of the Third Corps, Army of the Potomac. 1861-65. This title,- although nut technically, is vir- 
tually correct, for in a series of elaborate articles in dailies, weeklies, monthlies, monographs, ad- 
dresses, &c., everything relating to this Corps, even to smallest details, from 1861 to 1865, was pre- 
pared with care, and put in print. These articles appeared in the Citizen, and the Citizen and 
Round Table: in Foley^s Volunteer, and Soldiers' and Sailors' Half-Dime Tales of the late 
Rebellion; in Mayne Reid's magazine Omvard; in Chaplain Bourne's Soldiers' Friend; in "£« Royale 
or Grand Hunt ifl^ihe: Last Campaign] of the Army of the Potoinae, from Petersburg to Appomat- 
tox Court House, April 2-9, 1865," illustrated with engraved likenesses of several of the prominent 
Generals belonging to the corps, and careful maps and plans ; in the life of Major-General Philip 
Kearny ; in the "Third Corps at Gettysburg ; General Sickles Vindicated'' * * Vol. I., Nos. xi., 
xii., xiii. The Volunteer; in a Speech delivered before the Third Army Corps Union, 5th May, 
1875, profusely illustrated with portraits of Generals who commanded, or belonged to that organiza- 
tion, &c. These arranged and condensed would constitute a work of five or six volumes 8vo., 
such as those prepared by Prof. John W. Draper, entitled the "Civil War in America," but were 
never given as bound volumes to the public, because the expense was so great that the author, 
who merely writes for credit and amusement, was unwilling to assume the larger outlay, in addition 
to what he had already expended on the purchase of authorities, clerk-hire, printing, &c.. &c. 



and publicly professed the reformed (Protestant, or Huguenot) 
doctrines, and gathered around him a number of distinguished 
theologians who shared his views. Among these were Jacques 
Lefevre and William Farel, subsequently distinguished as Protes- 
tant divines, 

Briconnet, however, was less of a zealous propagandist than 
an ambitious courtier. Accordingly, by an astounding change of 
front, he deserted his party, and, to win his pardon from the court 
for what he styled his errors, he became the most pitiless perse- 
cutor of the religion for which he had previously shown the most 
lively devotion. His abandonment of his friends was the cause 
and the prelude of bloodv collisions. As soon as the plan of 
extermination had been definitely resolved ujxm by the Secret 
Council, and the hour of execution determined, a messenger was 
despatched to Meaux. He was accompanied bv Lefroid, a fero- 
cious member of the Romanist League, and was accredited to 
I-ouis Cosset, the Royal Procurator, or attbrney. This Cosset at 
once assembled all the robbers and murderers who had rendered 
themselves conspicuous by their fanaticism and their ferocity 
since the commencement of the French civil wars. He fixed a 
place for their assembling the very same day, at 7 p. m. All were 
to be armed and ready to fall upon the Protestants. At the same 
hour the gates of the city were shut. Cosset chose for associates 
to engineer the execution, Denis Roland, an usher or tipstaff, 
" a man worthy of a thousand i:;allows for his robberies and his exac- 
tions; " Pigeon, a bargeman ; and some priests. They divided 
their followers into bands, who commenced by seizing and im- 
prisoning the Protestants and then pillaging their dwellings. The 
massacres did not occur until the morrow, but continued for three 
days. The women and girls were violated and then murdered. 
The Protestants who were in the country about, and those who 
sought a refuge there, escaped neither pillage nor death. 

Troves, capital of Champagne, 90 miles E. S. E. of 

Paris. 
The news of the massacres in the royal city arrived in Troyes 
on the 26th of August. The Romanists at once fell upon the 
Protestants and the pillaging, the murders, continued for nine 
days (4th September.) The victims who sought asylums in the 
houses were followed thither without pity, tracked hke wild beasts 
and massacred. 

Orleans, 58 miles S. S. W. of Paris. 
The announcement of the murderous decree reached this city 
on the 26th of August and at once the imprisonments and the 
robberies began. The number of Protestants murdered is set- 
down at 1,200. This does not comprise fifty women and many 
little children. The massacres and the havoc lasted three days. 
Some Protestants escaped from the city. Certain of the magis- 
trates, accomplices of the assassins and robbers, devised an ex- 
pedient, which, in a measure, enticed the fugitives back into Or- 
leans. They caused an amnesty, entire and without restriction, 



to be made public, in favor of all those who would return to the 
(Roman) church. Some unfortunates, in the hope of saving their 
lives anil their properties, resolved to abjure their faith to a Cor- 
delier (Frunsciscan friar) designated by the proclamations to re- 
ceive tiiem. I'hese unhappy men were none the less robbed and 
murdered. " These ' Little Massacres^ " says a contemporary his- 
torian, " lasted fifteen days." 

BOURCIES, 123 MILES S. OF PaRIS. 

In this city, as in almost every locality where the Leaguers 
were masters, massacres were executed with the same circum- 
stances ; closure of the gates of the city; imprisonment of the 
Protestants; pillage of their property. The blood continued to 
flow for many days. The bands of assassins were led by Boirat, 
captain of the Burgher militia, his brother, an Kchevin (somewhat 
like an a.ssistant alderman), n member of the municipal govern- 
ment and other fanatics belonging to the same family: Montjan 
— sword cutler, Ambroise — shoemaker, Yves Camaille — butcher. 
.\11 the Protestants imprisoned in the course of the 26th and 27th 
of August were pitilessly massacred. 

La Charite, N. E. of Bourges on the Loire. 

The company of the Duke of Nevers, composed of Italians, 
marched into this city the very day of Saint Bartholomew, 24th 
of August, and halted there under pretext of being reviewed. 
The officers had received secret orders from the Duke of Nevers. 
Soon afterwards these foreign soldiers united with the Leaguers, 
attacked and pillaged the houses of the Protestants. The rich of 
this party were subjected to heavy ransom. On the 3d of Se])- 
tember massacres began and continued for many days. 

Sancerre, N. E. of Bourges, in the direction of La Chak- 

ITK. 

The Prote.stants who had escaped from the massacre in Or- 
leans, in Bourges, anil in La Ciiarite — a sad misnomer for a place 
destitute of brotherly love — took refuge at Sancerre, whose 
j)opuIation was almost entirely Protestant, and combined with 
them for their commen defense. Their calm and determined at- 
titude surprised and frightened the Romanists, so that the latter 
did not dare to attack them. The Protestants, although most 
numerous, did not take advantage of their sujjeriority. They 
would not permit any reprisals, thus to deprive their ])ersecutors 
of every pretext for summoning to their a.ssistance the troo])s of 
the Duke de la Chatres, who had received orders to re])air to 
Sancerre. Thev alwavs showed themselves in public in large 
numbers and ])erfectly organized, but without ostensible wea])ons : 
so as not to violate the last Roval edict, which prohibited carry- 
ing arms; which edict was intended to deprive the Protestants of 
the means of defending ihemselvt-.s. 

.Almost all the towns of Hrittnn\ , west-north-west province of 
France; of the .Anjoumois, lajiital .Angers, to the south-east of 
this; and of Saintoiige. more southerly again, were theatres of the 
most frightful disasters. 



Lyons, the second city of France, was, after Paris, the most 
unfortunate of municipalities. Mandelot, the governor, who was 
a partisan of the Guises, had orders to accomplish the extermin- 
ation of all the Protestants, without distinction of age or sex. 
At first he hesitated to execute this infernal order with all its in- 
tended rigor. 

He confined himself to ordering the gates of the city to be 
closed, and imprisoning the Protestants under pretext, thus, of 
placing them under the protection of the magistrates and of the 
public force (police) and thereby saving them from the popular 
fury. This, however, amounted to nothing, since he charged the 
Burgher militia with the arrest of the intended victims. This 
citizen organization summoned to its aid all the Romanist Lea- 
guers of the country, and these escorts, assigned under the pre- 
tence of safeguards, led their prisoners into by-streets, murdered 
them there and then cast their corpses into the Rhone. The 
bands of cut-throats were under the direction of one Boidon, an 
assassin and robber by profession — a wretch who subsequently 
terminated his horrible career on the scaffold, at Clermont, in 
Auvergne. These pillages and massacres had already lasted 
three days, when, on the 29th of September, arrived from Paris 
de Perat, decorated with the Royal Order of Saint Michael and 
bearer of letters from Queen Catharine. With him was associ- 
ated one de Rubis, and several Echevins (assistant aldermen?) 
of Lyon, who had been sojourning some time at Paris, attending 
to the interests of the Lyonese merchants. The letters confided 
to de Perat announced in effect, that the King desired that Lyon 
should imitate the capital ; that all the Protestants should be exter 
minated. The governor, Mandelot, alleged that he was every hour 
expecting direct orders from the king. At the same time, however, 
he published a notice that all those who professed the Reformed 
religion must repair without delay to the government hall. 
These unhappy people thereupon hastened to place themselves 
under the safeguard of the military authority. La Pierre d' 
Auxerre, Advocate Royal, declared that the King and the Queen 
Mother ordered the extermination of all the Protestants, not 
only those already in prison, but all those who could be arrested. 
For this he produced no written authority. Nevertheless Man- 
delot yielded to his arguments and soon after Bordon, Mornieu 
and Le Clou, companions in the debaucheries, and comrades in 
the crimes of La Pierre, proposed to the public executioner to 
associate himself in their enterprise. This grim functionary, how- 
ever, had more humanity than his superiors. He boldly told 
them " that he performed his functions simply in executing the 
sentences of the magistrates and that he would not sully his 
office by the massacre of innocent people." The soldiers in the 
citadel made a like reply to a similar proposition from La Pierre 
and his fellow-villains : '' What you demand is against honor. 
We are not assassins. What evil have these unfortunates done, 
that you wish us to slaughter them ? " The murderers were thus 
compelled to purchase the services of some bandits and the 



Guards of the City Hall (composed of 800 Burgher militia). 
These they divided into bands and by them, all the Protestants, 
confined in the convents of the Franciscan and Celestine monks, 
were murdered. 

The principal merchants who professed the Reformed relig- 
ion, had been shut up in the palace of the Archbishop. The 
Leaguers first imposed lieavy ransoms upon them, and, notwith- 
standing, killed them afterwards. Mandelot and Saluces hurried 
to the palace of the Archbishop to stoj) the slaughter, but they 
were too late. Mandelot, in order to evade the terrible respon- 
sibility of this massacre, hastened to prepare an accusation set- 
ting forth the facts, directed against the actual authors of. this 
crime. He promised a hundred crowns of gold to whoever 
would produce proofs of their guilt. This ostentatious demon- 
stration of indictment and of reward made no imjjression on the 
criminals. They were sure of impunity. Their fury redoubled, 
and on the evening of the very same day that these official docu- 
ments appeared, they repaired to the prison of Roanne, crowded 
with Protestants, fastened cords to the necks of these, dragged 
them to the Rhone and threw them into the river. The courts 
of the arch-episcopal ])alace were filled with corpses. Mandelot 
had them conveyed to the opposite side of the river, in order that 
they might beinterred in the Cemetery of the Abbey d'Aulnay,but 
the monks set their faces against it, under the pretext that these here- 
tics were unworthy of burial. Then the members of the League, 
at a concerted signal, themselves removed the heaps of dead and 
cast them into the Rhone. " The bodies of the fattest were given 
over to the apothecaries." The number of victims exceeded 800. 
The lives of two ministers and some Protestant laymen were 
saved by Saluces, commandant ot the citadel. 

The Rhone cast ashore the corpses thrown into it. These 
encumbered the environs of Tournon, Valence, Bourg, Vienne, 
Le Pont de St. fc^sprit, Avignon, Aries, &c., townsalong its course 
to the sea. The authorities were obliged to compel the boatmen 
with their boat-iiooks to shove back the dead bodies into thd 
Rhone, and for a longtime the riparian populations would neither 
cat of the fish of the river, nor make any use of its waters. 

Valence, on the left bank of the Rhone, and Romans, 10 
miles to the north-east, on the right bank of the Isere. In both 
these towns some Protestants were murdered ; but their fellow- 
worshipi^ers were saved by the courageous firmness of Simiancde 
Cordes. 

Claude of Savoy, of Tende, who commanded in Dauphinv, 
refused to execute the orders of the Secret Council which were 
brought to him by IJoniface de la Motte. To this court emis- 
sary, he made this noble rejjly: "It is impossible that such 
orders could have originated with his Majesty. They must hive 
been conceived by enemies to the throne and i)ublic tranquility ; 
by people who prostitute the name of the King in order to gratify 
their passions." This generous refusal cost him his life. He 



6 

died of poison administered to him at Avignon, a city belonging 
to the Pope. 

Bayonne, extreme S. W. of France. 
The Viscount d'Orte, governor of this city, took the wisest 
and most energetic measures to restrain the Romanist Leaguers. 
No Protestant was attacked. To the orders of the King hehke- 
wise made a memorable answer : " Sire, I have communicated 
the commands of your Majesty to your faithful citizens and men- 
at-arms constituting the garrison. Among them I have found 
none others but good citizens and brave soldiers, and not a single 
executioner. For this reason both they and myself very humbly 
supplicate Your Majesty to be pleased to employ our arms and 
our lives in things which are possible, however dangerous they 
may be. For such we place ourselves at your disposal, even to 
the last drop of our blood." This refusal to obey unjust and san- 
guinary orders likewise cost his life to this brave citizen. He 
died poisoned a short time afterwards; and the government of 
Bayonne was given to the Count de Retz, a creature of the 
Secret Council. 

AUVERGNE. 

The Protestants of this province escaped extermination sole- 
ly through the devotion of Saint-Heran, its governor, who had 
the courage to imitate the generous refusals which the Count of 
Tende and the Viscount d'Orte opposed to the royal command. 
Dijon had only reason to deplore a single victim, Clermont de 
Traves, brother-in-law of the Count of Grammont. Advantage 
was taken of the absence of Charny. who commanded in this 
city, to kill this Protestant gentleman. 

Macon. — The Protestants were almost all put in prison. The 
governor, Philibert de la Guiche, adopted this measure to save them 
and it was successful. The prison served as a veritable and secure 
refuge for the unfortunates destined to the knife ; and this brave 
governor was able to make their enemies respect his determin- 
ation. 

NiSMES, in Languedoc, afterwards, in 1815, like Avignon and 
other towns in the south of France, the scene of bloodthirsty 
bigotry, won, on the other hand, in 1572, an honorable record. 
Its Romanist inhabitants did not share the atrocious frenzy of the 
Leaguers, and themselves rallied to the defence of the Protes- 
tants. They united with the latter for the common maintenance 
of order in the city and, therein, the orders of the Secret Coun- 
cil were not executed. 

Rouen, Normandy, 68 miles N. W. of Paris, on the Seine. 
Tannequi-le-Veneur, the governor of this city, at first re- 
sisted, not only the instigations, but the menaces of the Leaguers. 
Very soon, however, his authority ceased to be recognized. The 
numerous Protestants who inhabited this vast and populous city 
were shut up in prisons on the 17th of September, 1572. The 
cut- throats assembled in arms before the prison, forced their vie- 



tims to come fortli, one after another, and murdered them. The 
number of victims ranged between 800 and 900 All their liouses 
were pillaged. As for the corpses, they were first stripjjed of 
their clothing; this, by an affectation of piety, was bestowed 
upon the poor. Then the bodies were thrown into large holes 
dug for the purpose, outside the gate de Caux. The provincial 
parliament promulgated a sentence against the robbers and assas- 
sins. But this decree was nothing but a cruel and scandalous 
piece of deceit. These murders of the Protestants at Rouen, in 
1572, were a perfect type of the massacres of Paris by the Jaco- 
bins in 1 79 1. In both cases the victims belonged to the best 
classes of society and the cut-throats to the worst. 

Toulouse, Languedoc. — Infamous in 1762 for the judicial 
murder of the Protestant Calas, which roused the indignation of 
Europe, this city was the stage of the last act of the long tragedy 
of desolation and of crime. The massacre of the Protestants of 
this city closed the .lists of the crimes of Saint Bartholomew. 
Duranti, Advocate General, was accused of ha\ ing given a fright- 
ful signal for the murder of his fellow-citizens. He was after- 
wards ])ronioted to be First President of the same provincial par- 
liament to which he had been attorney -general. Subsequently, 
when desirous of ()p])Osing new aggressions of the very Leaguers 
of whom he had been the accom|)lice, he jjerished, together with 
Dassis, his brother-in-law, assassinated by them in 1589. His 
corpse was wrai)ped uj) in the canvas of a grand picture repre- 
senting Henry III., who had incurred the hatred of members of 
the League in consequence of his alliance with the Protestant 
Henry of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. 

Michelet mentions selling the bodies of fat Protestants to 
apothecaries. 

History has consecrated the names of the magistrates, of the 
governors, of the military commandants, of the citizens, who 
glorified themselves by their heroic resistance to the orders of the 
Secret Council — good men, who here and there in difterent cities 
and some of the provinces, saved a portion of the ])opulation, 
their innocent fellow-citizens, so unjustly proscribed. 

Truth and justice requires the mention of the tollowing 
noble men. in addition to those already cited as exceptions to 
the general list of ferocious instruments of royal and priestlv in- 
famy : M. M. Sonagues at I)iep])e (North) ; the Count of Gar- 
ces in Provence (S, K.) ; the First President of the Parliament of 
Grenoble (K.) ; Presi<lent Jeannin, at Dijon; Villars, at Nismes ; 
the Marshal de Matignon. at Alencon ; de Rieux, at Narbonne; 
Curzas, at Angers; Bouille, in Brittany; Henuyer, Bishop ot 
Liseux; all the Montmorencies throughout their vast domains, 
and in the towns and cities wherever they held commands. 

Salignac-Fenelon. then French ambassador at London, re- 
ceived orders to justify these massacres to Queen Klizabeth, His 
bold and honorable answer to his king, Charles IX., came near 
costing him dear. He was threatened with a severe punishment 



8 

tor making it. " Sire," were his words, " I should render myself 
an accomplice of this terrible deed, if I attempted to excuse it. 
Your Majesty must address yourself to those who counseled the 
execution." 

Even the massacre of St. Bartholomew has found apologists ; 
moreover, refutations have not been wanting. Such discussions 
or excuses simply imply a total ignorance of the epoch. Opinion 
is now definitely fixed in regard to this capital crime, its origin, 
instigators, motives, method and iniquity. 

A French ofticer justly characterized it as worse than a crime. 
It was a blunder ; followed up by worse blunders, if less meanly 
sanguinary crimes. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and its 
consequences completed the list. These deviltries of bigotry con- 
tinued for over 200 years and were most disastrous to France. In 
driving out the Huguenots, they drove out industry, economy, 
knowledge, honesty and thought — the origin and stimulant of pro- 
gress. The revulsion of the Revolution was the necessary conse- 
quence of the centuries of such crimes. The rulers set the example 
and demorahzed the people. In hke manner the utter depravity of 
the imperial rule of Louis Napoleon generated the excesses of 
the Commune. The pendulum never ceases to vibrate, nor the 
application of the law of of compensation, even in this world. 
The cruelty towards the Huguenots and their expulsion was the 
source of the calamities of France in 1870. 

The Huguenots furnished nerve and brain to Prussia. Fred- 
eric the Great was their pupil in all that made him truly glorious. 
When Prussia succumbed, in 1806, it was Huguenot blood which 
mitigated the fall. The first Prussian general who fell on French 
soil in 1870, bore a Huguenot name. It is claimed that when the 
victorious Germans rode into Paris in 1871, eighty descendants 
of Huguenots rode in the staff of the triumphant Emperor who had 
so much to avenge and avenged it. The same race inspirited the 
United States of Holland ; gave snap to the early manhood of 
this city ; helped William the Third to the crown of Great Bri- 
tain and performed leader's and yeoman's work in his military 
successes. What is more, the greatest French admiral who ever 
shed glory on the Bourbon flag, Duquesne, was a Huguenot. 
No title, no honor, no reward would have been considered sufii- 
cient to buy his perversion. He resisted every temptation, and 
although France could not dispense with his services, it was 
mean enough to refuse him a grave in consecrated ground. And 
his indignant sons bore forth with them into exile the heart 
which only beat for the service of his ungrateful country. 

Viennet, a member of the French Academy, terminates his 
biography with these words : " He who alone had raised the 
French marine to the first rank among the navies of the world, 
could not obtain even a mausoleum in his native country." 

Woe to those empires in which priests direct public affairs ! 

J. Watts de Peyster. 



Information Translated and Gathered 
from Various Sonrces. 



BY 



^ J. WATTS de PEYSTER. ^ 

JUNE, 1885. 



NEW YORK : 

Chas. it. liUOWKJ, PuiNTEU, 10 & 12 Keade Street. 

1885. 



syesies. 



SOME CURIOUS INVESTIGATIONS, COLLECTED 

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES, RESPECTING THIS 

RACE OF MYSTERIOUS ORIGIN. 



" His captain's heart * * * reneges all temper ; 
And is become the bellows and the fan 
To cool a ijipxy's lust." 

" O this false soul of Egypt ! this grave charm, 
Like a right f/ipsi/, /lat/t, at fust and loose. 
Beguiled me to the very heart of loss." 

Shakspeare. 1608. 

"Tiie companion of his [the Tinker's] travels is some foul, sunburnt 
quean, tliat since the teuiubi.k sr.xTUTE [against Gipsies and the like], 
recanted //.v/AW-fwe. and turned pedlaress." 

Sir TnoM.\s Ovkubi-ky's " Chanictevs." Sig. I. Ciuc.i, 1014. 

"Outlandisli persons calling themselves Egyittidus, or (h/psies, are 
another object of the severity of some of our unrepealed statutes." 

Blackstone, " Vomineiitavies." B. IV., c. 13. Circa, 1765. 



Gipsies. — Translated from " Zedler's Grosses Universal Lexi- 
con aller Wissetischaften uud Kihiste xvelche, etc." Leipzig and 
Halle, 1749. 

Gipsies — Ger. Ziegeuiier, Zigeuner, Zigeiner, Zigainer, Ziigeu- 
ner ; Lat. Cingari or Ziiigari. A wandering and trooped-tDgether 
mob, which has stolen in over ahiiost all Christendom, and are 
variously designated, for, besides the names given above, they are 
called .\ttingani, Cigani, Cingai, Cyani, Cigari, Cyngai, Zigeu- 
ni, Zigeneri, all, however, words of the same stem. Even tiie 
word Attingani, which is the name given them by the Greeks, 
appears to be one with the others, if the syllable " At " be 
thrown off and the " t " changed into C or Z. They are called 



also Taten or Tattarn, or Heyden, also Saracenen, Saraceni and 
Agareni, or (corrupted), Zagareni, especially, too, Egyptians 
(^^gyptiani), from which it is supposable that the name Cyani or 
Zingani comes. Since our forefathers, the Germans, were 
accustomed to shorten names, they may have thrown away the 
two first syllables of ^gyptiani and left only Ciani remaining. 
See Jacob Thomasius' '• Dissertation on the Cingari," Leipsic, 
1652, § 4, and so on. In France they are called " Bohemians." 
They are also called by some learned men Nubians. 

Some derive the name Zigeuner (Gipsy) from the German as 
meaning " Zieht-einher " (Come-in), because these people had no 
fixed dwelling-place but wandered about hither and thither 
iyZeiler's Seiidschreib. Epist. 71) a derivation which is further con- 
firmed by the circumstance that the common people gave the 
name Zihegan to land-tramps before Gipsies were heard of 
( Zeiler's Sendschreib : Letter 276.) 

As regards the origin of the Gipsies, no agreement has, as yet, 
been arrived at. It is, however, certain and proved, that they 
were first seen in Germany in the fifteenth century, under the 
Emperor Sigismund. 

Zeiler writes, they first appeared in Hesse, in the year 14 14, 
but almost all historians put their first appearance in Germany 
in 1418. Jacob Thomasius, in his " Dissert, de Cingaris" § § 16, 
17, prefers this latter date. Counting from this date they passed 
through all Germany in two years and afterwards turned into 
Italy, France and Spain. The first bands that came into Ger- 
many consisted of 14,000, including men, women and children, 
and were split up into various small tribes, of which some wan- 
dered hither, some thither. 

They had with them horses, mules and asses and were under the 
command of a king or colonel (obrist) named Michael. Aventinus, 
however, says the colonel whom they had in 1639, when they 
were in Bavaria, was called Zindelo, or Zandadel. Stumpfius 
tells us, in his " KajserChronic," that at their first appearance 
they paid for the necessaries of life they wanted with hard money 
and that they possessed much gold and silver, although they wore 
poor and ragged clothes. The Emperor Sigismund, it is said, gave 
them, on account of their good behavior, a free pass and safe 
conduct (Thomasius, /(?f^. cit.,). Otherwise the gipsies were of a 
dark complexion and not over cleanly in their clothing and gen- 
eral way of life. They ^aid they were Christians and that they 
were from Lower Egypt (Klein-Egypten). On this account they 
were called, in the emperor's free pass, Egyptians. This is also 
corroborated by three gravestone inscriptions over their colonels, 
which Mart Crusius cites in his " Swabian Annals." The Jirst 



5' 

runs thus, " Counting from tlic birth of Christ our Saviour, in the 
year 1445, °" ^'- Sebastian's Eve, ched the noble-born Lord 
Panuel, Duke of Lower Egypt and Lord of Hirschhorn in the 
same country." 'Vht snofn/, " Anne Domini 1453 Obiit nobilis 
comes Petrus de Minore /f^gypto in (He Phihppi et Jacobi Apos- 
tolorum." The //t/'/v/, " In the year 1498, on Monday after the 
Festival of St. Urban, died the well-born Lord John, Frey Graf 
of Lower Egypt. May God be gracious and pitiful to his soul." 
As to the cause of their wandering, the people gave out that they 
had denied Christianity and for seven years became heathen, and 
this sin they desired to atone for by seven years of pilgrimage. 
They mixed the Pope in with it as having laid on them the pen- 
ance of seven years wandering for having forsaken Christianity 
(" Zeiler's Seiuisclireibcn^ Epist. 71). Others say that their pretext 
was that by their wanderings they were doing i)enance for the 
sins of their forefathers, who had refused hospitality to the Vir- 
gin Mary and tiie Jesus-child at the time of the flight into Egypt. 
Others pretended that the gipsies had previousiy lived in Singara, 
a city of Mesopotamia, and since they were driven thence by 
Julian the Apostate had never been able to regain their country, 
and for this reason they wandered about the world. Others 
seek their origin in Assyria, others in Cilicia, others in the Cau- 
casus, many in Tartary, others in the province of Zeugitana in 
Africa, others in Nubia and Abyssinia. So some derive the 
name from the Zechis, Zichis, Zinchis, who had their dwellings by 
the Don on the Palus Moeotis and came from Asiatic Sarmatia 
(Abel's "German and Saxon Antiquities," P. ILp. 329, (Sec.) In- 
deed, some would make the gipsies the descendants of Cain, who, 
like their ancestor, are fugitives and vagabonds, and must wander 
over the face of the earth (Thomasius, loc. cit., § 54). But these 
do not know what they are talking about since the whole race of 
Cain perished [?J in the Hood. If some wish to make them out the 
descendants of Ham this might be, but there is no apparent 
cause why they should, on this account, be tramps and vagrants, 
since others of Ham's race have settled habitations. 

The gipsies' own account of the cause of their wandering 
was only a fiction by means of which they wished to make people 
willing tr) tolerate them. This at first succeedeil. People 
pitied them and felt scrupulous about injuring them. It was also 
supposed that on the ending of their seven years of pilgrimage 
they would return home. This did not take place, and when 
called to account for it they replied that the way home was barred 
to them, that they were not able to return to their country, or 
that they were obliged to begin another seven years of pilgrimage, 
and if they did not do so they would be visited with failure of 



6 

crops and other national visitations. Stumpfius, indeed, says that 
the <?r/^>/«/ gipsies returned to their country on the ending of the 
seven years. This cannot be so, since as vagrants they had no 
home and no proper country. They may have wandered into 
other Christian countries, but there were always many of them 
remaining in Germany and we have records that since that time 
there have always been more or less there. Some aie disposed to 
consider the gipsies who were still to be found in Germany as 
only a crowd of thieves, murderers, knaves and other riff-raff, 
who, after the departure of the gipsies proper, collected together 
and wished to pass for those people. And it cannot be denied 
that all sorts of loose characters may have joined them, whom 
they also willingly received and whom they knew how to stain ot 
a dark color by various inventions so that they could not be re- 
cognized. It is even related of a Spanish nobleman that he fell 
in love with a gipsy girl and was thus induced to join their com- 
pany (Thomasius, §62). In any case it is beyond doubt that 
many original gipsies remained in the country, to whom all sorts 
of reckless people joined themselves. 

That the original gipsies were more honest than their succes- 
sors cannot be certainly asserted although Thomasius maintains that 
it was so. They were, in any case, deceivers who attempted to 
profit by all kinds of falsehoods as to their own history and cir- 
cumstances. Yet their successors may have become worse and 
worse, as is usually the case with such vagabonds. They were 
shameless beggars who possessed themselves of what they could 
not obtain fairly by trickery and violence, as also they were ex- 
cellently trained by all manner of arts and deception for getting 
people's money away from them. For this purpose they addicted 
themselves to all sorts of fortune-telling and conjuring, also they 
pretended to many medicinal secrets, which were, however, 
nothing but simple nonsense and deception. When cunning did 
not answer, they resorted to violence, with robbery, murder and 
plundering. They are even accused of being spies for the Turks, 
and betrayed to the latter the plans and projects of the Chris- 
tians. For this reason, |^^ since the year 1500, severe orders 
and ordinances were issued against them in almost every 
Christian country in which they were found. ^^;| 

They intleed gave themselves out to be Christians and had 
their children baptized, but this was only with the expectation of 
receiving the usual godparents' presents. Otherwise they were 
but poor Christians, since they availed themselves neither of hear- 
ing the Divine words nor of partaking of the Holy Communion. 

If it be asked to what nation did the gii)sies belong and 
whence they came, such a question it is difficult to answer. They 



gave themselves out, as lias been said, for Egyptians ; but this is 
not in accordance with truth, for lielonius declares that he had 
seen the gipsies in Egypt in great numbers under the palm trees 
on tlie river Nile and that they were there as much strangers as 
they were everywhere else [Zei/er, Epist. 532). D. Wagenseil, of 
Altdorf, has here and again maintained in his writings that the 
gipsies sprang originally from the Jews, who, in the 13th and 14th 
centuries, suffered dreadful persecutions in Germany and other 
countries, so that those who escaped fire and the sword betook 
themselves to the forests and there lived for a time, as much as 
possible, concealed. Finally they came out with a changed lan- 
guage and disguised as to clothing, and gave themselves out as 
Egyptians. Afterwards all kinds of loose vagabonds associated 
themselves to them for the purpose of enjoying a free, disorderly 
life. (See S. Huebner's Staats-Zeitiing, and Conversations Lexi- 
con, Article "Zigeuner.") 

This idea is contradicted by the circumstance that it is difficult 
to conceive how such a multitude of men — 14,000 — could remain 
so long concealed in the forests. The black color of the gipsies, 
too, opposes itself as not being that which we find in the Jews. 
Those seem to hit the mark more nearly who say that they first 
came into (Germany from Turkey and the Turkish-Hungarian 
frontier, for here they are, to the present day, frequently met with. 
About Gross-Waradein in Hungary there are many gipsies, some 
having houses, who maintain themselves partly as horse dealers, 
partly as sniiths and partly by stealing. They also sometimes act 
as hangmen or executioners in Hungary and Transylvania. 
Some of them pick up exhausted cattle and tan their skins. In 
Transylvania some of them wash out gold from the sand of rivers 
and brooks and are obliged to deliver such sand-gold to the 
imperial treasury at a certain price. They generally go naked 
and eat the carrion of dead horses, cattle and sheep thrown 
into the flayer's-field. They get from the inhabitants the diseased 
and dead cattle, whose flesh they smoke in their huts or dry in 
the sun and eat as a great delicacy, but generally raw and un- 
cooked. Of fortune-telling they understand nothing nor do they 
attempt it as an occupation. In the year 1676 the gipsies jjlun- 
dered the Hungarian miner town of Kotack and set fire to it, as 
well as to the church. Among these gii)sies was found a French 
engineer, Pierre Durois, who had been with them some eight 
years, and meantime drawn large bills of exchange on France. 
He was captured by tlie Imperialists and on liim were found 
j)lans of almost all the Imperial cities, and the cities of U])per 
Hungary. It is said that the gi|)sies of Wallachia furnish musi- 
cians, although their music sounds miserably enough. [Of late 



" 8 

years gypsy bands and gypsy peculiar music have been in 
great repute in Eastern Europe.] [i794-] (Mark Zeiler's 
description of the Kingdom of Hungary, pp. 29, 748, 1017.) 
The gipsies came first into Germany and thence wandered 
into other European countries, therefore it is quite suppos- 
able that they came from Hungary and the Slavonic countries 
about it. Thomas Brown says, in Pseudodox. Epidem., L. VI. C, 
13, that the gipsy language is Slavonic, which is a further argument 
for the above-given view, since that language is very common in 
Hungary and Turkey and even at the Turkish court. 

Nevertheless, although they may have come thence into Ger- 
many, Hungary cannot be their original country and the question 
remains, where is this to be sought ? But where can such be 
found, since the gipsies are a vagrant people, and at home 
nowhere? The opinion which we find in Salmon's "Present 
History of Persia," Chap, ix., p. 247, may, perhaps, be the best. 
He says, "The Fackirs in Mahommedan, the Kalenters in Hea- 
then, and the Gipsies in Christian lands, are as like as one egg is 
to another, and they are without doubt one race. The Kalaii- 
ders or Kalenters are essentially heathen begging-monks and the 
Fackirs Mahommedan ones. These latter so often go into India, 
because there are, in that country, as many Mohammedans as 
heathen, and both orders of devotees (the Kalenters and Fakirs) 
think as much of one religion as of another, that is, they hold 
to none. So they form light companies and are now in Persia, 
now in India, now in Egypt, now in Europe, in which last we 
call them [Gipsies) Zigeuner, Heathen or Tartars. I consider all 
three sorts, altogether one and the same people, whether they be 
in Asia or in Europe, only that, according to the people with 
whom they are, they assume a somewhat altered appearance and 
name. With the heathens and Mahommedans they pass for a 
sort of monks who deny themselves in everything, therefore it 
would not answer for them to take females, generally and openly, 
with them. Nevertheless, it occurs. When it is necessary, they 
take them secretly with them on their journeys in Christian 
lands. When they find in Catholic ones bands of pilgrims, in Pro- 
testant ones, again, beggar' bands, consisting of one or more 
whole famiUes, the gipsies put themselves on a like footing, often 
join with them, as in Asia with the Fakirs and Kalenters, in one 
troop, according as they are at one place or another. That they 
are one people, however, sometimes in Europe, sometimes in 
Asia, can be seen in Duke Henry of Saxony's " Travels in the 
Promised Land," which in i4<^8, according to the custom of his 
time, he made there. The author of the biography of this 
prince relates the following, " He (the Duke) spoke but seldom 



of this journey, as it was now almost forgotten, unless indeed 
some particular inducement or occasion for it presented itself, 
such as the mention of the Gigeunter or Zigeuner (Gipsies, as they 
are called). Against them he was fierce, calling them traitors or 
spies in the land, because they had recognized him and told who 
he was, in Syria, in consequence of which he encountered much 
anxiety and danger. On this account he would not sutter them 
in his territory, so that during the whole time that I was at the 
court of Freiberg and otherwise in his Grace's cities and employ- 
ment, I never saw a gipsy, although they were in the country 
nevertheless." (See "An Introduction to the History of the Elec- 
torate of Saxony.") 

But now-a-days it is only too well known tiiat these gipsies are 
nothing else than a congregated troop of bad characters, who 
have no willingness to work, but choose to make a profession ot 
idleness, stealing, fornication, gluttony, drunkenness, gambling and 
the like. One finds among them discharged and deserting sol- 
diers, dissolute servants and apprentices who do not wish to profit 
their masters, degenerate sons who have run away from home, 
female beggars who have received a public whipping and who, 
besides, can no longer earn anything as procuresses or prostitutes. 
They stain their faces with green nutshells, in order to increase 
their ugliness and thafthey may more easily induce the inexper- 
ienced to believe that they come from the hot oriental countries. 
They form for themselves a peculiar language and separate dialect 
[Argot], in order thus to appear more foreign and that they may 
communicate with each other concerning their plans without being 
understood by other peoj)le. The real gipsy-troops elect a chief 
from among themselves, who commands them all and to whom, 
in general, they yield obedience. The females wear lon^ mantles 
under which they may the better conceal the stolen clothes and 
other goods, 'i'hey have with them horses, pistols and all sorts 
of arms for use when occasion offers. They especially wish to 
appear very well versed in calculating nativities, in cheiromancy 
and in fortune-telling and thoy prophesy to people, mostly to the 
vulgar and for a fee, those things that their dupes wish to hear. 
They take pains to inform themselves of events in the lives' ot 
certain i)ersons, so that they may be ready to relate to them past 
circumstances and thus create in them and others the impression 
that they can, with equal skill, foretell the future. They pretend 
to be able to promise fires and to set them agoing in the most 
dangerous place, where, nevertheless, they do no damage. Ot 
this we have e.xamples in that they sometimes make fires in 
barns and the building does not catch. They prefer encamping 
on the frontier, so that in case they are sought for and pursued 



10 

they may easily pass into a foreign territory. They also com- 
monly live in the forests. They are accustomed at particular 
times to have their children baptized, and on such occasions to 
choose rich and prominent persons for Godparents, in order that 
they may have the better time in revelling and rioting on the 
christening gifts received from the sponsors. 

It is, besides, certain that the gipsies of every period have been 
Godless, bad people, who were persecuted most justly. Mr. Hom 
[Horn ?J has given in his unpresuming "Thoughts on City and 
Country Beggars " the following description of the gipsies as they 
were to be found in the Coburg territories, according to their most 
recent condition and mode of living. He says : " They confess 
and avow that they are divided into several bands or troops, 
which are made up of some six hundred, which are under one 
captain, of the name of Reichert, and that they assembled every 
year at a rendezvous. The bands are twenty, thirty, forty, or, 
at difiierent times, more or less strong. Generally they have no 
arms, but they have some horses, by means of which they can 
more easily transport and save their baggage and booty. In the 
day they send their women and children into the neighboring 
villages to steal, which they know how to accomplish in a most 
masterly and handy manner, under the pretext of begging and tell- 
ing fortunes, while they abstract clothing, goods and small utensils 
from the houses of the peasants, catch up chickens and geese 
or whatever they can find to pilfer. To the inhabitants of 
the places where they find their lodgment and night-(iuarters 
they do no injury, but buy their own food or feed on what 
they stole elsewhere, so that such liosts shall not betray them 
and when they return may be ready to harbor them again. 
They put* out sentinels to guard against an unforseen attack 
and are so swift and nimble that, especially in the woods, 
they can hardly be overtaken. Their women commonly 
carry very long and straight knives concealed on their per- 
sons, with which they, in case of necessity, defend them- 
selves, and are able the more promptly to kill and 
more easily carry off the stolen poultry. When asked how they 
make a living they answer, partly by horse-dealing, partly by 
begging, partly also from their pay which they get in bills of 
exchange sent out of Little Egypt by the emperor of Turkey 
over the Red Sea to the Roman emperor, and by the latter 
commonly transmitted by the Messrs. Fugger, of Augsburg. 
1^^ Since now these gipsy people, as has been said, do 
much mischief, it is a just and equitable punishment for 
them, that it is, almost everywhere in Germany, the law 
that they be sought out by armed pursuit wherever they may be. 



11 

in towns, villages, hamlets, underbrush or woods, and forcibly ex- 
pelled from the country. On any marked resistance they may 
be shot dead. When they are captured they are to be executed 
without any grace or indulgence and without any furtlier legal 
proceedings, simply and alone on account of their forbidden way 
of life and manifest disobedience. The women and children, for 
their part, are to be condemned for life to the houses of correc- 
tion and work. The best way for discovering the gipsies is that 
the mounted road jiolice should fully do their duty and patrol 
zealously, likewise that the gamekeepers and foresters should al- 
ways immediately rei)ort what they may meet in the way of such 
bands of thieves and loose characters and not allow themselves 
to be diverted from this duty by either gifts or threats." 

In the same way, even now-a-days. the gipsies are looked u])on 
as mischievous bad characters, indeefl,as spies, foreign scouts and 
traitors in Christendom. In this view they have been frequently 
banished from Germany as well as from other countries. Indeerl, 
by a decree of the Kammer Gericht at S])e)er they were 
^p"deprived of all legal protection and declared outlaws 
(Jablonski Lex. Becmann). 

In this connection the first, not unreasonable, question is, are 
these so-called gipsies to be tolerated in any well-constituted 
commonwealth, or may it be .said of them w'ith justice that they 
form of themselves a kind of sej)arate commonwealth ? [as the 
Romanists, who are only really true to the Pojjc, do in every 
country]. The first question is fairly answered in the nega- 
tive, in view of the manifold crimes committed by theln, 
this particularly by Besold de Trib. Domest. Societ. Spec, 
c. 4, n. 4. and by Klock de Aerario, Lib. II., c. 102, 
n. 28, &c. The second question, however, in view ot 
their continual vagabondism and other evils occasioned 
in the commonwealths and states, in which they at any time 
have attempted to settle down. Of the first, Besold gives 
instances in his Tractat. de Princ. et Fin. Polit., c. 8, n. 8, and 
many others agree with these ideas. Thus one finds, not alone 
in these im])erial decrees, various ordinances against the gipsies, 
but whole " circles" in Germany, as well as single departments, 
have, from time to time, and when this otherwise useless mob has 
somewhat increased, were themselves compelled not only to re- 
peat such im])erial decrees in their countries, but in some measure 
to sharjjen them. As regards the imperial statutes, we rin<l in the 
final decrees of the Diet at Augsburg, of the year 1500, Title Zi- 
geunern; at S])eyer, 1544, "Aber der jenigen Zigeuner halber, \c;" 
at .'Vugsburg. or in the re-lormation of a good police, of 1548, 
Title, von Zigeunern ; at Augsburg, 1551, § " Nachdem uns auch 



12 

angezeigt, &c.," and in the next following § " Damit nun in dem, 
&c." As also in the police regulations at Frankfort, of 1577, 
Title 28, " Of gipsies, in relation to those who call themselves 
gipsies and wander about the country, it is strictly forbidden to 
all Electoral princes, Princes and governments, on the allegiance 
which they bear to the Holy Empire, that, as regards these gipsies, 
when credible proof exists that they are scouts, traitors, spies, 
and explore Christian countries for the benefit of the Turks and 

of other enemies of Christendom (strictly forbidden) to 

allow them to travel in or through their states, to traffick, to 
give them safe conducts, escorts, or passports and, since the gip- 
sies have obtained some passports, or may obtain them hereafter, 
such passports are, by virtue of this decree broken, nullified and 
abolished. The gipsies must immediately get themselves out oi 
all German countries, keep out of them, and not let themselves 
be found in them, for when they, nevertheless, hereafter enter 
them, and l^any one does them violence or injures, them, that 
person shall not be considered as having committed a crime, or 
having done anything wrong." 

Subsequendy, it being found that the above-mentioned laws, 
contained in imperial statutes, did not sufiice to drive off" this 
vagrant mob from German lands, not only whole circles, but also 
separate imperial states have been forced, not only to repeat 
these laws in their lands, but also, according to the circumstances 
and exigencies, to make them more severe in one or another 
point. 

Here belongs, first of all, the imperial decree for the rooting 
out of the gipsies wandering hither and thither about the coun- 
try, and of other collections of thieves, robbers and murderers, 
as also regarding those who harbor them : " We, Charles VI., 
&c., to all and each of our subordinate spiritual and secular land 
or town rulers, and to all our lieges, subjects and vassals, ot 
whatever rank or dignity, who inhabit our archduchy of Austria 
(Lower and Upper Ems), our gracious good wishes; and we 
graciously give you to understand, that although very appropriate 
mandates have been issued on repeated occasions by our fore- 
fathers formerly reigning as lords and as the secular princes ot 
our archduchy of Austria, having for object the complete banish- 
ment of the gipsies wandering about the country along with their 
wives and children and the other rabble of thieves, robbers and 
murderers who have joined themselves to them ; and despite ot 
our own gracious orders and especially of the general public de- 
cree issued on the ist of July, 1720, for the general quiet and 
security of the country, in which we announced to all, the bann 
and the death punishment issued against these people ; for all 



13 

this, it appears, to our great displeasure, that these wholesome ordi- 
nances and the efforts for carrying them out have not accom- 
plished their desired object and full effect, and that meantime 
certain of our subjects have had the audacity to give the for- 
bidden lodgments and shelter to this gipsy rabble, pests of the 
country, both within and after the most carefully arranged time 
allotted for their dejjarture. 

When now our own most highly honored lord and father 
Roman emperor and prince of this country, of most Christian 
memory, most righteously ordained, as early as the 2 2d of No- 
vember, 1689, in a general decree of that date, against har- 
bourlrs and all those who, in what manner soever, give illegal aid 
and shelter to this wicked rabble, the incommutable punishment 
of death, and, inasmuch as by long lapse of time, this decree 
seems to have become almost forgotten, we now renew, confirm 
and publish it in the form following, that although we retain the 
punishment of death, as in the former, against the gipsies wan- 
dering hither and thither in the country, as well as against the 
mob of thieves, robbers and murderers who have joined them, 
we also ordain, that their harbourers and all those who, by day 
or by night, secretly or openly, within or beyond the time allowed 
for their quitting the country, give forbidden shelter, &c., to the so 
often denounced mischievous gipsies and robber-mobs be impris- 
oned and beheaded, whether such have been sharers of the 
property robbed and stolen or not, whether they have done so 
with the hope of gain or not, if they have given them illegal 
occupation of their houses, barns, grounds, or other i)lace fitted 
for concealment ; consequently in whatever way the forbidden 
harbouring may have been accomplished, that such harbourer 
shall be arrested, imprisoned and there [at once, without trial] 
beheaded, literally with a stroke of the sword sent from life into 
death. 

We command, therefore, to you, who are the first-named, but 
especially to the local magistrates, most graciously, but at the 
same time in the greatest earnest, that for contributing to the 
greater abhorrence and destruction of the gipsies and land-wasting 
robber mobs, they renew the placards which, by our order of the 
ist July, 1720, were to be posted at the principal road-crossings 
of every district : to the effect that any individual of the before- 
named gipsy and robber bands, who resists arrest with the use of 
arms, may be killed ; and also we command that these magis- 
trates add in these placards, with great distinctness of expres- 
sion, that any person who voluntarily provides these people with 
a resting place, shelter, by whatever name it may be called, shall 
be visited with the like death punishment. And finally, in order 



14 

that this wholesome law and regulation may remain fresh in the 
memories of our subjects, and that none of them may shield him- 
self under plea of ignorance or any other subterfuge, we also re- 
quest and order you, state officials and village magistrates in 
general, as also you, village magistrates, separately, that you read 
in public to our subjects in the common assembly (Panchadung) 
every year this renewed definite statute, and that you at the same 
time earnestly admonish them to heed it, so that every one may 
know how to conduct himself and keep out of trouble. 

Given at our capital and residence, the city of Vienna, 
August i8th, 1722." 

The above statute is to be found, word for word, as w^ have 
given it, in Faber's " Europaisch. Staats-Caiitzley^' Part XLL, p. 
724 and so on ; also in Anton Balthasar Walther's " Silesia; Diplo- 
maticce" T. II., part ist. Part Generalia, pp. 236, 237, 239, and 
many following. In the same way, in the Duchy of Silesia, when 
it was still under the dominion of Austria, there were issued 
many imperial superior-official decrees against the gipsies, aiming 
at their extirpation, particularly among these one dated Bernstadt, 
|^^5th Sept., 1618, in which former orders are confirmed; with the 
addition that, if they are not out of the country within fourteen 
days, and they attempt violence or other dangerous proceedings, 
they are to be arrested and punished with death; further, under 
date of Brieg, 21st March, 1619, it is ordered that the gipsies be 
driven out, arrested, and, according to circumstances, put to death 
or banished. This by the country police itself, or, if necessary, with 
the conjoined force of the country and cities. In the same tenor 
of the i2th of February, 1683; of the 4th December, 1685; of 
the 28th of April, 1688; of the 3d of June, 1689 ; of the 13th 
of August, 1695; and of the 8th of August, 1703, audits renewal 
of the 27th of September, 1703, and of the 3d of February, 1706, 
that the gipsies must be driven back, that the militia must be 
used for this purpose and if l^^the gipsies resist they are to be put 
to death. And not less the same of the 19th April, 1708, that 
for keeping back the gipsy rabble there are to be set up in all 
places near the frontiers placards on posts on which their punish- 
ment is to be described {al?oe/iia/ilel.) In the same way, an order 
of the 26th July, 1715, regarding the extirpation of the gipsy 
mob declared oudaws ; again, of the 23d June, 1721, and of the 
25th March, 1726, regarding extirpation and punishment ot gip- 
sies. 

As regards the Electorate Saxon countries, there likewise 
has been no failure in this respect. From time to time the 
sharpest and most emphatic decrees against such licentious and 
land-destroying rabble have been made public. Especially the 



u 

gipsies, who, besides, are outlawed completely throughout the 
Holy Roman Empire, are not to be suffered in any corporation 
under penalty of loo Rhincgold Horins, to be paid by such cor- 
poration, or the forfeiture of its charter (" Entziehung der 
Gerichtc" ). Police ordinances of 1617, n. 19, and of 1661, 
Title II.; also as a conseciuence of the mandate of 1709, § 12, 
their children must not be bai)tized at any other place than tliat 
in which they were born and when this has been ascertained with 
certainty. — rolice ortlinances of 1661, Tit. 11., § 4. Compare 
also the general law. Art. 6. And in general they are not to be 
tolerated on the main roads, housed, sheltered or entertained, as 
may be seen in many supjjlementary mandates to the same effect, 
of the years 1579, 1590, 1621, 1652, 1670, i684-'6, 1689, 1703, 
1713, 1720, and 1722 ; as also in the official circulars concerning 
them of the years 1590, 1652, 1665, 1689 and 1696, and else- 
where. To further illustrate the subject we will, here, add the 
already mentioned most gracious mandate of his royal majesty ot 
Poland and Serene Elector of Saxony, 4th Aj)ril, 1722, as the 
last and newest ot the kind, against the strong bands of gipsies 
recently forcibly driven out of Hesse anil the bordering states, 
who then moved into the Thuringian forest and have been seen 
on the frontiers of Saxony. They are to be banished, the land 
being found necessary : 

" We, Frederick Augustus, by the grace of God, King, Elec- 
tor, &c., command to all and each, &c., our Greetings, Grace 
and Kind Will, that they should bear in mind what we and our 
forefathers, resting in God, have issued through this country in 
the way of sharp and earnest mandates, both in the year 1689 
and subseijuently at different ])eriods up to the i)resent time, 
against the robber gipsy rabble, for the purpose of hunting out 
and exterminating them, and that they should attend to their 
contents under the head of gipsies, as respects the pestiferous 
thief-robber banils, who have reapi)ered in our lands. 

Since then, however, up to the present time, the fatherly ob- 
jects intended for the best good of our subjects cannot be attained 
and we now receive the most trustworthy information that the 
gipsy bands, not long ago forcibly driven out of Hesse and other 
neighboring countries and which are said to consist of some 1500 
persons, have moved into the Thuringian forest and that already 
some of this miserable mob have been seen in one and another 
village on the frontiers. If so, being that necessity unavoidably 
rerpiires us to control this people, in good time, and with all pos- 
sible energy, lest they should in our country, as it has already hap- 
pened in neighboring parts, collect tiiemselves together and here 



16 

likewise be able to commit murders, robberies and plunderings, we 
have found it necessary for turning off this evil, not only to repeat 
and renew the mandates and orders first mentioned, past and 
present ; but also, by virtue of this, our now given mandate, to 
sharpen the others in respect to their object and again to order, as 
we have already done by our general field marshal and directing 
cabinet minister, Count von Fleming, to our militia, also now to 
all our vassals, officials, corporations and all subordinate magis- 
trates of the country, that as respects themselves and those under 
their control, they shall, without delay, make sufficient disposi- 
tions for the purpose, and that, when eight days have elapsed 
from the publication of this our mandate, which shall be posted 
up everywhere in the corporations, on the pillars along the roads 
and frontiers, and in other public places, if any gipsies are found 
and caught in the towns, market-places, villages, woods and fields 
of our electorate and its appertaining lands, even if they present 
open passports or other certificates, that such gipsies are not only 
given up for confiscation and execution as outlaws, as it was di- 
rected in the above-quoted mandate of 1689, but it is permitted 
and worthy of reward that they be at once shot down or other- 
wise killed, on the spot, and their property taken from them, and 
that no one who in this way does anything against them shall be 
held as having committed any wrong or crime, or be made 
answerable for what he has done.,^^ The women and children, 
however, so taken and caught, are to be delivered over to the 
next office or court, and either confined and kept at work in the 
place where they were taken, or if there be there no provision 
for so doing, be taken thence to the poor and correction house 
near Waldheimb, or to other poor and correction houses, accord- 
ing to opportunity and circumstances. In addition, for the 
quicker expulsion of this hurtful race, and the more thorough 
searching for them, according to the precepts of our man- 
date, issued in the year 17 10 against the thief and robber hordes; 
on occasion of the gipsies being sighted or pursued, the alarm 
bells are to be rung, or some other signal given, in order that in 
conjunction with the inhabitants and subjects, at the same time 
the militia also and gamekeepers, which last are included in 
the same orders, shall assemble in as strong force as quickly as 
possible, when called out, so that the whole may act against the 
oft-mentioned gipsies in the way prescribed, or as the necessity 
of the circumstances may require, and thus our intentions for 
the safety of the country and of our loyal subjects may be the 
more appropriately and certainly carried out. To the same end 
our upper circle chiefs and officials and other judicial magistrates, 
upon and near the frontiers, are not the less to communicate dili- 



n 

gently and properly with the neighboring proprietors and officials, 
and arrange for a mutual understanding iiow the hunting up and 
expulsion and following up of this fretiuently-mentioned gipsy 
rabble is to be accomplished in the most effectual, easiest and 
quickest way. 

Accordingly now, the, at the commencement mentioned, our 
vassals, officials, and all and each our judicial authorities and subor- 
dinate magistrates, as well as all subjects, will and must know 
how to i^roperly and exactly observe this decree and to arrange 
what will be sufficient for carrying out and enforcing it. 

In more emphatic witness whereof we have with our own 
hands signed this mandate and ordered our privy seal to be im- 
pressed on it. Done and given at Dresden, on the 4th of April, 
in the year 1722. 

AuGusius Rex. [l. s. | 
Henry von Bunua. 
Jno. Christopher (iunther. Sjec'yJ." 

See the "Annals of Christoi)her Ernst Siculs," Leipzig, Sect, 
xvii., p. 166, ike, and by virtue o( an official circular dated from 
the Electoral Saxon castle at Jiudissin, i8th October, 1652, there 
also exists a "most gracious order," in the margraviate of Ui)per 
Lausitz, along with tliatof his Electoral Serenity ot Saxo y, in his 
police order issued at Dresden, on the 23d of April, 1617, rcler- 
ring to his alreaily issued statute concerning gii)sies, thus, t()-»vit: 
" In virtue of the there drawn-up imperial decree and ele( toral 
transcript, and in virtue of the superior magisterial instructions in 
the margraviate of Ober- Lausitz, drawn up in cc^nformily there- 
with, the already-named !,v/>7>5, who are accustomed to move up 
and down the country and to plague and overpower its 
inhabitants with robberies, thefts and all sorts of chicanc-ry, are 
not to be suffered in the country, mucii less to be alloweil to live 
and trade therein, or to have security and protection given to 
them, but they are to be hunted out of the land. In case, how- 
ever, that they show themselves contumacious, the authorities of 
the place where they attempt to encamp themselves are allowed 
to seize all their pro|)erty and to throw them into prison and 
without delay to refer to their superior officials for further orders. 
.\lso no one will be held to account in any way who does any vio- 
lence to them, who, as is said in the letter of tlie high imperial de- 
cree and its electoral transcrijjt, are outlaws in pro])erty, estates 
and body. In order that this transcrijjt and circular, intended 
and adapted for preserving the safety of the country, avoidance 
of threatened danger and furthering of the common good, may 
come to the knowledge of everyone, it is not only to be posted 



18 

at the usual places, but to be read from the pulpit. In other 
respects the superintendence of the gipsy bands in Electoral 
Saxony belongs to the most praiseworthy (hoch-lobliche) country 
government, as is shown by Wabst in his historical account of the 
present land-judiciary of Electoral Saxony and its appertaining 
lands. Sect. II., c. i., §12, n. i." 

In the Royal Prussian and Electoral Brandenburg lands, they 
were likewise set, most earnestly, and by all serviceable means 
and ways, upon driving out and extirpating the gipsy land-tramps 
who, by means of fortune-telling, plirophecies, root-medicines, 
lying and deceit, robbery and stealing and the like other offences 
and wickedness, exceedingly mislead simple and incpiisitive people 
and get their property, yes, often in one day and night make 
more evil and mischief where they are quartered than the 
preachers can root out, so as to put things right, by 
many sermons. To this end it is not only as already 
ordered in the church-visitation of the Insterburg, and other 
Lutheran offices of Prussia, in the year 1638, to the effect that 
gipsies are not to be received and sheltered in the towns, sub- 
urbs, and villages, but to be turned into the fields and not suf- 
fered in the country ; and that those who contravene this order and 
for some supposed sliglit gain receive and house such bad and 
harmful people, are liable to a fine to their landlord of 20 Polish 
florins ; but it is also by various recent royal orders, as that dated 
Marienwerder, 29th October, 1709; Konigsberg, 21st May, 
1710; Koln on the Spree, 24th Nov. p. 73, 1710; it has been 
most strictly commanded that no gipsy shall be tolerated in the 
royal Prussian dominions. (See William Henry Beckher's short 
extracts from the principal royal Prussian edicts and decrees, 
under the word " Zigeuner " — gipsy). And likewise Gruben's 
Corp. Constit. Prutea, p. i, N. 5., p. 73 and P. III. N. 373, 374 
and 375, p. 507, &c. See another edict, dated Berlin, 26th July, 
17 15. His royal Prussian Majesty Frederick William, of most 
glorious memory, thus complains : 

" His majesty understands to his great displeasure that 
despite the previously so frequently issued edicts against gipsies, 
land-tramps, impudent beggars and the like thievish rabble, 
nevertheless once again large bands of such vagabonds, worth- 
less fellows a'.id village thieves are to be found in his royal-elec- 
toral and other possessions, and that, already, many have been 
arrested and imprisoned. From a fatherly care for his land, for 
the safety of travellers and general intercourse and commerce, 
and that everyone may enjoy the royal protection, these peoj^le 
should, on the one hand, be kept away from the frontiers of his 



19 

provinces, and, on the other hand, that quick judgment should 
be passed on them when taken, and thus the land be cleared of 
such dregs of people : he decides on tliis account hereby to order 
and decree : 

1. That henceforth no traveller, male or female, whose rank 
and condition is made doubtful from his outward appearance or 
any other reason, shall be allowed to enter his majesty's frontiers 
or passes, fortresses or towns, unless he present, in addition to his 
travelling pass, a passport from the government or magistrates of 
the place whence he comes, describing the place where he 
belongs, his profession and purpose, and thus legitimizing his 
person. For this |)urpose, and that it may be the more exactly 
executed and all evasion of it prevented, for such towns, market 
places, and the like, where the gates aie not guarded, and for 
their sul)urbs, there, the innkeepers, ])ul)licans and tapsters are 
made responsible for demaniHng the aforesaid pass and attesta- 
tion from every stranger and traveller who enters their house, to 
look it through, and in case they observe anytliing susi)icious in 
the pa|)ers or in the behaviour of the stranger — for immediately 
informing the authorities of the place. This they shall not omit 
under a heavy money jienalty, and in case they may be detected in 
any collusion with such stranger or traveller, or with the worth- 
less fellows before mentioned, they shall, without fail, be visited 
with bodily punishment. 

2. Since, also, experience has taught that such rabble are 
wont to disguise themselves under the names ot lottery dealers, 
thimble-riggers, jugglers and " fast-and-loose " players, antl with 
the occasion to ply their thieveries, such people are henceforth not 
to be surtered in his majest\ 's towns, market places or villages, 
either at yearly or weekly fairs or | lairs held atj church-ales, un- 
less they have a sijecial royal permit ; this under penalty of the 
confiscation ol their booths or under that of personal arrest, but 
against all such persons the frontiers of his majesty's dominions 
shall be entirely clo.sed and barred oft' from the exercise of their 
in any case suspicious trades. 

3. vShould it be that, in sp te of the earnest royal ordinance, 
a worthle.ss fellow, pickpocket or cutpur.se cros.ses the frontier and 
practices his wickedness and he be taken in the act, then, in 
order to spare the treasury the expense of his maintenance and of 
other judicial costs, but at the same time to deprive these thieves 
of the hope that under prolongetl arrest they may by force or 
cunning get away and escape puishment, the following short judi- 
cial proc:eedings will l)e ajjplied to the case : 

' When such thieves are caught in the act of real stealing and 
one may be sure of it, they shouKl at once be brought before the 



20 

magistrates of the place, who must, particularly at the times of 
public yearly markets and churcli-ales, be present and assembled 
in their office or other headquarters, and the crime with its chief 
circumstances shall be presented to them in a short written state- 
ment. Should it happen that the delinquent, notwithstanding, 
shamelessly denies the fact, the witnesses present are to be sworn 
in presence of the delinquent, and then on the sum of their test 
timony, there always being at least two witnesses, the delinquen- 
shall at once, without reference to the value of the stolen pro- 
perty, or whether the theft was fully accomplished or not, and 
without further appeal to the King's majesty or tohis government, 
be flogged and, for all time, banished the country.' 

4. Should it, however, happen that any of this thievish mob 
commit such an act of theft as is by common law a capital crime, 
then the regular process of inquiry, " servato jf^nris ordiiie" is to 
be instituted against these misdoers. The magistracy of the 
place, however, shall see to it that the trial be, as far as possible, 
hastened and finished. 

In regard to this it is commanded to the supreme court at 
Berlin ; to all the royal departments, high or low ; to the spiritual 
and secular oflficers ; to magistrates in the towns and country; 
and to the royal treasury officials, respectfully to obey and in their 
respective places give effect to this gracious expression of the 
royal wishes. In order that this royal edict may be universally 
known, it is to be aflfixed to and posted upon the gates and 
in the inns and tapsters' houses." See Fassman's " Life and z^cts 
of Frederick William, King of Prussia," part II., p. 40, &c. 

Soon after, there was issued, because the discharged and in- 
valided soldiers, as well as others, partly poor, partly loose and 
bad people, did not choose to be constrained from begging or 
from exercising forbidden traffic and unallowed business, another 
royal edict, under date of ist March, 17 17, in which it was 
ordered that all such hucksters and beggars, whether they were 
invalids and other natives, or strangers, or gipsies, should, with all 
their baggage, their wives and children, immediately on being 
taken up, be carried to the nearest military post, and thence to 
the nearest fortress, there to be confined, to be kept at work and 
on bread and water, and further directions concerning them to 
be then asked for. //'/</./., 47. 

A renewed and exceedinglv sharpened edict against robberies 
and thefts appeared, dated Berlin, 24th Novembei, 1724, according 
to which ten dollars was to be paid every time to the detecter of 
a gipsy or thief company, ^^ the gipsies or thieves caught at 



21 

tlieir work to he hanged witliout further inquiry, and those 
wlio resisted to be shot on the spot.,^^J IhU, p. 693. 

Further a new and very much sharper edict against the gip- 
sies, tramps and foreign beggars wandering about the country, 
under date, Berhn, 30th November, 1739, was as follows: 

" We, Frederick William, by the Grace of God, King of 
Prussia, (S:c., &c., declare and i)ublish : Inasmuch as, to our 
great displeasure, it has been abundantly proved that our, at 
various times issued wholesome ordinances against the gipsies, 
wandering beggars, and vagabonds, who so often show them- 
selves, have been but loosely observed, indeed almost entirely 
put out of sight, and we desire to have everywhere complete 
compliance with these circulars tending to the good of the com- 
monwealth. 

Thus we renew and confirm all edicts published to this effect, 
especially the one of the 20th December, 1727, as earnestly as 
im|)ressively issued, that all foreign beggars and land-hurtful loose 
rabble shall entirely leave the country, and as regards the natives 
of that sort, that they shall retire to the places of their birth or 
to those where they have hitherto for some years lived and main- 
tained themselves. This done, all those who may be anywhere 
found and taken up shall be immediately carried to the fortresses, 
where they must be at once received according to the directions 
of our circular-orders of the 25th April, 1728, to all com- 
manders of such. In the same way we renew the ])rinted instruc- 
tions of the 20th November, i730,^as to what is to be done in 
regard to getting rid of gipsies and other vagrants, and what for 
the purpose of keeping the country clear of such dissolute people. 
Such are to be seized on the frontiers at the first village they 
enter and at once carried off. 

We, however, sharpen and extend the working of the above, 
so that from now on, any district magistrate who knowingly 
accords to such ^^/.j/W, vagrants and wandering beggars a resi 
dence or even shelter and a night's lodging on his property, and 
such peo|)le are not immediately, or as soon as may be, in con- 
formity with our orders, at once arrested and carried off, shall be 
visited with the lo.ss of his magistracy and with a thousand dol- 
lars fine in money. The bailiffs and communities, on the other 
hand, who are neglectful, or do not give to the above-mentioned 
magistrates proper assistance, are to be ])unished with severe and 
certain bodily punishment and according to the circumstances 
even confinement in a fortress. 

So soon as such a one, gil)sy or vagrant beggar or land tramp, 
may be caught and it appears from his examination that he, by 



22 

clear daylight, has gone through this or that village and at all 
begged therein, or otherwise acted suspiciously and was seen by 
people, but not arrested, an official account must at once be sent 
in to the government (office ?) and this must at once have the 
case investigated by a treasury employe (ex-officio) and cause 
the guilty persons to be punished in conformity with this edict. 
In virtue of which it is enjoined upon all our governments, 
war and domain-departments, colleges of justice, general treas- 
ury officers and treasury employes, officials, district magistrates 
and commanders, to act energetically in res[)ect of this, as well as 
of all other orders issued regarding gipsies, country-beggars and 
vagrants, and that no one may excuse himself under plea of 
ignorance they are to have this edict read every year from the 
pulpit. 

Officially issued with our genuine autographical signature and 
stamped with our royal signet [apparently more emphatic than 
the privy seal J Berlin, November 30th, 1739. 

Fr. Wilhelm. 

S. V. COCCEJI. 

[Contrast this rude justice of a rough old temporal king with 
the merciless judicial edicts, following, of a spiritual Romanist 
Prince and Priest Ruler.] 

See Ludwig's " Literary Analecta," Part II., p. 1075, A. 

Beside this there is no, deficiency in pretty sharp ordinances 
of other German imperial princes and states against the gii)sies. 
Thus, as an example of the like shar[)encd ordinance, his electoral 
yjrincely grace at Mayence, in concert with the four associated 
Circles issued such in 1714 against the i,7)^i'/V\r, foreign beggars 
and other dissolute rabble owning no allegiance, by virtue 
of which he extends the inmishment l^'of DEATH without any 
formalities to gipsies antl notorious pickpockets, simply and alone 
on account of their forbidden manner of life and on account of 
their proved disobedience, their wives and children are to be 
beaten with rods and branded. Land-tramps, vagrants, beggars, 
wounded soldiers, foreign Jews and other rabble having no dom- 
icile, whether provided with passes and discharges or not, are to 
be hunted up and forcibly ejected across the frontiers, and in 
case of any showed resistance, tjiey are to be knocked down and 
even shot dead. This is the amount of the ordinance as found 
in the Electis Juris Piiblici of Mayence, Vol., VI., Part VII L, p. 
656, &c. In its full composition it runs as follows : 



23 

" First. It has hecMi again most humbly represented to the 
most high worthy ])rince and lord, the Lord Lothaire Francis, 
Arcii- Bishop ot Alayence of the Holy See, Arch-Chancellor and 
Elector of the Holy Roman Fmpire throughout Germany, Bishop 
of Bamberg, &c., and he has learned with great dissatisfaction 
that as regards the stringent orders, both Imjjerial and of the 
Circle, often pul)lished and made known, against the still hither and 
thither vagabonds, reckless to the common weal, more hurtful 
i^ipsies, pickpockets, Jew-beggars and other masterless thief-rabble 
who often also bring with them commonly all sorts of contagious 
diseases; these orders seem no longer to be sufficient. In addi- 
tion it also appears that there is often a want of proper execution 
and carrying out of the so wholesomely conceived arrangements 
of the empire, circle, and other governments, and their proposed 
object has, up to this time, not been attained. 

Second. It has been obvious that in our Circles themselves, 
and in one and another of the high and respectable departments, 
they have given free domicile to such reckless and thievish rabble, 
and thus with knowledge of it, whether from fear or other ])re- 
text ; beside not applying the rigour of jnmishment directed in 
the before-mentioned ordinances and not going hand in hand for 
properly supporting each other. Therefore, at the last assembly 
of the associated worthy Upper Inii)erial Circles, it has again 
been held necessary on this occasion, not only to repeat and con- 
firm the already-taken resolutions and the circulars containing 
them in their full contents ; but also to, at the same time, freshly and 
most stringently ordain that, when discovered, all ,i:^i/>S!>s, notor- 
ious pickpockets, ^^'without any grace or indulgence, si//r 
stiepitu jiuficii, (without any judicial fuss), and without any 
further i)roceeding, simply and only by reason of their 
torbiilden manner of life and jjroved disobedience, shall 
be executed with, or, if necessary, by some more severe manner 
of capital i)unishment.^,^3 Their wives and grown children, how- 
ever, when they are not at the same time convicted of a theft, 
shall be flogged, branded and for ever banished from the land, or 
condemned to peri)etual confinement in the correctional work- 
houses; and l)ecause this loose, wicked and irresponsible rabble 
begin to move about in places where, on account of the forest, 
they think to find more concealment and security, and their num- 
ber visibly increases, even so that, in s|)ite of the guards posted 
here and there, indeed even in villages so guarded, one slill 
hears, almost daily, of breaking into houses, of robberies, and 
also despoiling of travellers, this protection notwithstanding. 
Their daring impertinence is growing to such a degree that thev 
do not hesitate at threatening the countrynuin who refuses them 



24 

a night's lodging, with murder and the torch ; that already var- 
ious sheds, together with the grain in them, have been consumed, 
having, it is supposable, been fired by these wretches. Thus the 
country people are withheld by fear from carrying out with the 
necessary energy and vigour the wholesome regulations decreed 
by the Circle. It has been further unanimously resolved and 
ordered to be published everywhere, to-wit : That from the pub- 
lication of this order all land-tramps, vagrant-beggars, wounded 
soldiers, foreign Jews, gipsies and other irresponsible rabble who 
are not born in the country or in some other way its subjects- 
whether having passes and discharges or not, are, without excep, 
tion, at once to cjuit the whole territory and to bestow themselves 
elsewhere, or should they remain the most severe and effective 
punishment will be inflicted on them. I^^That they be hunted up 
by armed force everywhere, whether in towns, market-places, 
villages, copses or woods, and forcibly driven out, also that in 
case of their offering resistance they are at once to be 
knocked down or shot dead on the spot.^^J In order to prevent 
those in such cases often occurring collisions as to jurisdiction, 
through wliich, according to daily experience, many wholesome 
laws and regulations are rendered unfruitful and remain in the 
lurch, it has been most definitely determined and approved among 
the electoral princes and the various governments, that when one 
or another of the like foreign land-tramps, beggars, soldiers, for- 
eign Jews, vagrants, irresponsible rabble — or, also, others, in a 
certain measure subjects of the most worthy Circle governments 
or persons belonging to them — are captured or brought in by 
scouting parties, patrols, or other arrangements such as it may 
have been thought well to make, then anyone has the power and 
authority, and indeed is under obligation, as concerns the one or 
the others of these classes, to give safe convoy for delivering the 
strangers and foreigners from out their governments and disincts, 
by the most advisable way (and so as to prevent their escape or 
the like) to the nearest garrison next some fortified j^lace without 
regard to local intermediate jurisdiction of any species being op- 
posed or unopposed to it. The fortress is also at once to pass 
them on to another, and so on, until the frontiers of the circle are 
reached. For so acting there is to be no possibility of anything 
being quoted as, or of itself, tending to the legal prejudice or to 
the legal privilege or advantage, or by whatever name any conse- 
quence may be called, for the present or in the future, against any 
one so acting. And since it has further been discovered that 
some shameless and audacious persons conceal themselves in the 
garb of clergymen or other religious professionals, it is in the 
same way decreed that such strangers, and especially religious 



25 

persons who say that they are returning from Italy or any other place 
ol pilgrimage, be closely watched, and that, when they are not 
fully ]>rovided with sufficient passes and testimonials, they be de- 
tained on their entering the territories of the associated Circles, 
carried from place to place up to the proper Ordinary, by him 
examined, and, according to circumstances, handed further on or 
discharged. Since also, finally, it has been found that the mis- 
chievous poachers or venison-thieves creep into the forbidden 
pro])rietary forests and that tliey therein, with the, by the higiiest 
authority forbidden, rifle, not only cause great damage, but are 
audacious enough to murderously attack and fell keepers on 
guard against them, lest they be recognized, brought in and jjut 
in arrest by them, and since consecjuently they take up and carry 
on the same cai)itally punished sort of life as the herein so often 
mentioned mischievous ijickjjockets and ,i,7/^<^ rabble with whom 
they now and then associate themselves. On this account it is 
therefore decreed, that, first of all, each one of the high and most 
worthy Diets provide in their forests for the necessary arrange- 
ments and watch that these may be cleared of the deer-stealers 
and these last arrested and subjected to the punishment due them, 
and also that they give to each other on proper |)ointing out and 
description of the delincjuents, all help necessary for taking and 
delivering them up and that they do not knowingly give to any 
reputed i)oacher forbidden concealment or shelter under penalty 
of like punishment. It is still, as aforesaid, more than ever to be 
observed, so far as circumstances will permi:, that even when the 
crime is committed in the forest ot others, nevertheless, the crim- 
inals are to be arrested and they are to be treated with the same 
penal rigour. In order now that no one may e.xcuse himself by 
pleading ignorance of the decree now issued, this circular, lik^ 
the preceding ones, is, by the gracious special order of the Prince 
Elector to be repeatedly read out and announced in the districts 
and to be affixed at the open gii)sy resorts, signboard i)osts, as 
well as to the church doors, and like the jjrevious ones, especially 
the last of the 2d May, 171 1, publicly printed and published, to 
be most literally com])Iied with. According to which every one 
will know how to judge and how to prevent injury to himself. 

Sii^/ifi/ under the most venerated prince-electoral grace and 
hereto impressed the office seal, Mayence, 22d March, 1714. 

[... S.J 

In like manner, cpiite lately, at the consultations of the Circle 
of Suabia, held for a time at I'lm, the security of the main roads 
within its territory was a prominent subject, as is evident from the 
following circular: 



26 

" Since repeated proof is made to the now, here present, gen- 
eral assembly of this Circle, that, despite the manifold and also 
recently published circulars, and the capital punishment therein 
declared, the gipsy, pickpockets and other irresponsible rabble so 
excessively hurtful to the public are once more wandering about 
hither and thither in this worthy Suabian Circle and have become 
so bold as, on the 22d of last month, to again attack the Imperial 
and German post-messenger, and so to misuse him that had he 
not saved himself by flight, the letter bag with all its contents 
would have been taken from him. And now it is an unavoidable 
necessity, in order to oppose such wickedness and at once to 
preserve from danger the correspondence so important tor the 
public, and the safety of the letter post, from all such commence- 
ments of outrage. Thus we wish properly to admonish through 
this circular all the high and respectable communities to keep a 
watchful eye in this regard in their lands, territories and govern- 
ments. For this purpose they are at once, not only to renew and 
repeat the often recited district punishments, but also, on 
any request or intimation, to afford speedy assistance to the post- 
masters, and this with regular soldiers or in the absence of such, 
with a trustworthy [armedj and sufficient force and day or night 
to give this assistance, so that the conveyance of letters, on which 
so much depends, shall not be hindered and shall be put in safety 
against the like wicked and highway robber crew. |^"And when 
such malefactor in this way shall be detected in the act and caught, 
then, without formalities, his trial shall be had, according to the 
present Circle orders, and it is allowable without mercy to inflict 
upon him the extremest capital punishment, if necessary to 
break him on the wheel, as a warning and example to others.^^^ 
-To the various documents to the same purpose the present cir- 
cular is aftixed and published, under the common official seal 
of the five princely benches. 

Signed at Ulm, 19th May, 1749. The Councillors, the Envoys 
and the Ambassadors of the Princes and States of the 7i.wrthy Sua- 
bian Circle present at the mnv assembled General Convention. 

According to the High-princely Saxe-Gotha territorial order,' 
P. II., c. 4., tit. 23, in regard to the gipsies, their possessions and 
belongings shall, according to the complete prohibition of their 
travelling in German countries contained in the imperial statutes, 
be taken from all such gipsies as venture to enter the lands of 
the princedom of Saxe-Gotha, and they, with their wives and 
children, shall be driven out of it. x\nd in virtue of the circular 
issued in the same country, of the 29th January, 1664, in respect 
to the watch association, the gipsies are summarily to be driven 



27 

off from the frontiers. For tliis purpose the officers appointed 
for the defence of the country are to aid the courts of justice in 
all localities. And to this end the troops of every district, with 
their arms and the necessary powder and shot, are to be kept 
ready, exercised and provided, as also to the end of pursuit from 
one district or government to another, as is allowed and to be 
done by virtue of the imi)erial ordinances. 

In the duchy ot Wiirtemberg the gipsies were not tolerated, 
more specially for the reason that they have several times ven- 
tured to betray the Duke of Wiirtemberg, Eberhard, to the Sultan 
of Egypt, as is shown in Crusii. Annul. Sucv., Litidenspi'ir ad. 
Ordinat. Wurtemb., p. 120, n. 2. 

Now it cannot be denied that the just now enumerated ordi- 
nances and the punishment contained in them may, at first sight, 
api)ear to many to be altogether too severe. But just as it is the 
common good which recpiires any punishment, so these whole- 
some laws were required by imperious necessity to make this 
jiunishment severe. On this ground the severity of military dis- 
cipline which often punishes a soldier who, in spite of orders, has 
stolen a single fowl, with death, is justified, although as an abstract 
proposition there is no proportion between a fowl and the life of 
a man. If, however, one fully considers the circumstances 
which give rise to such severity, the doubt concerning it will soon 
disai)pear. Thus writes a certain Politicus (statesman?) : "The 
|)unishment of the least fault is made very severe that the greater 
crimes may be avoided the more easily, on account of the mo- 
mentous results which come from the least point of neglected 
military discipline. It would be right if, in the proper manner, 
this severe law were published, ' Any soldier who steals even a 
fowl shall be punishetl by the '' froice," since he has j)referred the 
pleasures ot stealing l)eiore the sanctity of the laws and the j)ub- 
iic security, and thus he would seem to consent to what he knew 
would be thefiunishment of his act.'" 

If now there be a justification of the severe punishments of 
soldiers, then the severity ot the punishments in regard to gipsies 
and the like rabble are much more justifiable, for they are, accord- 
ing to the extent above shown, — which has been above shown 
under imperial outlawry — and thus their havings and belongings, 
their bodies and lives, notwithstanding one or more public pass- 
ports may be exhibited, since these were by the imperial ordi- 
nances completely revoked, broken and annihilated. 

1'kkiss, as also especially in the Klectis Juris Public!, T. VI., 
in the Eighth Part, p. 654, »S:c., has expressed himself decidedly. 
Still more concerning this gipsy rabble is to be found in the trea- 



28 

tise on the subject, by Ahasuerus Fritschen, '■'■ de Origitie, Fatna 
and Moribiis Zingarorum; " as also in Johannes Lunnaeu's "de 
Jur. Publ. Lib." IX., c. I., n. i6i, &c.; in Camerarius' " Hor. 
Subcif." Cent. I., c. 17.; Cent. II., c. 38 and 75, and Cent. III., 
c. 75; in Schonborner's " Poht." III., c. 26; in Flemming's 
" Deiitschen yager" Theil II., p. 44, &c.; in Ludolph's " Schau- 
i?//////*?," Theil I., p. 400; in Zubner's " Natur- Kiuist- Berg- 
Gewoxk- II nd Handlii/igs- Lex.;'' Arnctiel's '■'■ Mitiernachtische 
Volkcr" (Northern Peoples), Th. III., p. 45, &c.; in Falcken- 
stein's '■'• Nordgauisches Altcrthum" (Antiquity of Northern 
Countries), Th. I. p. 125, lit. n ; in Jacob Thomasius' " Disp. de 
Ciiigaris ; in the " A //gemein. Chronik" (Universal Chronicle), 
VI. Band, p. 66; in Micaelius' " ///V/^^r. Ecc/es." (Ecclesiastical 
History), T. L., p. 887 ; in Wegener's " Einleit. zu den IVeit iind 
Staais-Gesch. (Introduction to the History of the World, States, 
&c.), p 422; in Bresslauis; Sainml. XXXIII., Versuch (Essay), 
p. 69; in Tharsander's "6V//<?//-/yrt;/2," Th. III., p. 331, &:c.; in 
Nerret's '■'■ Heiden Tenipel" p. 1097; in Aventi's "■Annal." p. 
835 ; in AHgem's '' Histor. Lex" T. IV,, p. 973; in Bodin "-de 
Kepubl" Tit. V.; in Paulus' " Zf// und Lust" T. I., N. 198, p. 
690; in Voetius' " Sips." T. II., p. 654 ; in Camer's "■Dor Snbsis." 
Cent I., p. 195, &c. See also', in addition, the Article, " Zetigi- 
tane" a country in "iVfrica proper," on the Mediteranean See, in 
the same (Zedler's) Universal Lexicon : &c., &c., therein. 

GIPSIES, a word corrupted from Egyptians, is the name given 
in* England to a wandering race of people who are [now] found 
scattered over many countries of Europe, whither they migratetl 
from the East about the beginning of the fifteenth century. 
Pascjuier, in his " Recherches Historiques," says that they first 
appeared at Paris in the character of Penitents or Pilgrims, in 
August, 1427, in a troop of more than 100, under some chiefs 
who styled themselves Counts, and that they represented them- 
selves as Christians driven out of Egypt by the Mussulmans. 
They obtained permission to remain in the kingdom ; other 
troops [bands] followed, and they wandered about m all direc- 
tions, unmolested for many years, committing petty depredations, 
and their women assuming the calling of fortune-tellers. In 1560 
an Ordonnance of the States of Orleans enjoined all imposters 
and vagabonds styled " Bohemians," or " Egyptians," to quit the 
kingdom under pain of the galleys. The name of Bohemians, 
given to them by the French, may be owing to the circumstance of 
some of them having come to Fra?ice from Bohemia, for tliey are 
mentioned as having appeared in various parts of Germany pre- 
vious to their entering France; others derive the word from 



29 

" Boc/n" an old French word signifying a Sorcerer. (Moreri, 
Art. Boheinifiis ; and Ducange'.s "Glossary," An. .Ei^vpiiaci.) 
The Geniiaiis gave them the name of " Zi^^funer^'' or Wanderers ; 
the Dutch called them " Heiden," or Heathens; the Danes and 
Swedes ''Tartars:' In Italy they are called '' Zini^ari ;" in 
Turkey and the Levant " 7c/iltii:;e)ies ; " in Spain they are called 
" Gitanos : " in Hungary and Transylvania, where they are very 
numerous, they are called '^ Pharaoh Nepeti" or '■'■Pharaoh's 
peopled' The notion of their being Egyptians is probably de- 
rived from the circumstance that many of them came imme- 
diately from Egypt into Europe, but it seems proved that they 
are not originally from that country, their appearance, manners, 
and language being totally diliterent from those of either the 
Copts or Fellahs. There are many gipsies now in Egyi)t, but 
they are looked upon as s/ra/ii^ers, as indeed they are everywhere 
else. 

It is now generally believed that the gipsies migrated origin- 
ally from India at the time of the great Mohammedan invasion of 
TimurBec;; that in their own country they belonged to one of 
the lowest castes, which resemble them in their aj)pearance, 
habits, and es])ecially in their fondness for carrion and other un- 
clean food. Pottinger, in his ' Travels,' saw some tribes resem- 
bling them in Beloochistan. There is a tribe near the mouths of 
the Indus called Tchin^anes [somewhat similar to their Italian 
and Spanish, and almost identical with their Turkish and Levan- 
tine appellation]. 

The gipsies, in their language, call themselves Sind : and 
their language has been found to resemble some of the dialects 
of India {Bombay Transactions, 1820). They have no traditions 
or records concerning their origin ; no religion of their own, but 
they ado])t the outward forms of the people among whom they 
live, whether Christians or Mussulmans. Everywhere they e.\- 
hibit the same roving habits, a dislike to a fixed settlement and 
to the arts of husbandry, uncleanness in their food, licentious- 
ness, ignorance and intellectual apathy, a disposition to jjilfer 
and to imi)ose on the credulity of others. They seldom com- 
mit violent robbery or other heinous crimes, being fearful of pun- 
ishment. Maria Theresa ordered those in her states to be in- 
structed in agriculture, with a view to their i^ermanent settlement ; 
but her endeavors were not very successful. In Hungary and 
Transylvania, however, many of them follow some regular trade 
and have fixed habitations; they wash gold from the sand of the 
rivers, and they work iron or cojjper ; some are carpenters and 
turners, others are horse-dealers, and even keep wine shops or 
public houses. They abound in W'allachia, Moldavia, and Bess- 



30 

arabia, and they are found in Russia as far as Tobolsk. Grell- 
man, in his ' Versuch i'lber die Ziegenner^ Gottingen, 1787, con- 
jectures that there are between 700,000 and 800,000 in Europe, 
of whom 40,000 are in Spain, chiefly in the southern provinces. 
In England they have much diminished of late years, in conse- 
quence of the inclosure of land and the laws against vagrants. 
J. Hoyland has collected the most accurate information that 
could be procured concerning this strange race, in his '■'■Historical 
Survey of the Customs, Habits, and Present State of the Gipsies ; 
designed to develop the Origin of this Singular People, and to pro- 
mote the Amelioration of their Couditionr 8vo., York, 1816. He 
has largely made use of the work of Grellman, " The Penny 
Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowl- 
edge." London, 1838, vol. xi., Gipsies, p. 225. 

Die II Zigeuner || in || Europa und Asien || (The Gipsies in 
Europe and Asia): Ethnogra]:)hisch-linguistische Untersuchung || 
vornehmlich || ihrer Herkunft und Sprache,|| nach gedruckten und 
ungedruckten Quellen, || von || Dr. A. F. Pott,|| ord. Prof, der 
allgem. Sprachwissenschaft an der konigl. Preuss. Umversitat || 
Halle-Wittenberg.|| Erster Theil.|| Einleitung und Grammatik.|| 
Halle, 1844.11 Druck und Verlag von Ed. Heynemann || London, 
bei Williams &: Nordgate. 

This is said to be the best and most exliaustive authority on 
the origin and language of the Gipsies and was imported for ex- 
amination and citation in the pamphlet on that subject now pass- 
ing through the press. Too late for the original juirpose its facts 
will be used in a larger work, for which all these studies in rela- 
tion to the Gijisies were prosecuted with diligence and care. 

A Guy d'Agde, in the " Dictionnaire de la Conversation,'' 
article " Bohemiens " (Gipsies), has not a single good word for 
these people, charging upon them that they are not capable of 
any crime which indicates the possession of energy and courage, 
in a word, of manhood; but only those which awaken sentiments 
of contempt and disgust. 

In the Supplement to this great work, this utterly degrading 
character is somewhat relieved of such blasting stigma by the 
statement that in the XVth and XVIth centuries they were noted 
as military artificers among the Poles and Turks, and that subse- 
quently they became distinguished as musicians. In Russia the 
gipsies were not considered either as Outlaws or utter Outcasts, or 
even vagabonds. In Germany, two centuries since, they were 
looked upon as Spies in the interests of the Turks and penalties 
fearfully severe were from time to time promulgated against them. 
In case they did not obey the laws for their expulsion they were 



31 

to be flogged until they bled, then to have their nostrils slit, their 
heads and beards shaved close, and, finally, to be transported out ot 
the country. Any violence committed against them was not cul-: 
pable. 

In Hungary the judicial oath administered to them is curious 
" As Go<l druwned King Pharaoh in the Red Sea, even so may 
the Tsigane be buried in the bowels ot the earth, and may he be 
accursed if he does not speak the truth. May nothing honor- 
able or dishonorable succeed with him. At the first trot may his 
horse be miraculously changed into a donkey and himselt hung 
on the gallows by the executi(;ner if he testify falsely." 

The gipsies have little or no, if any, religion. According to 
M. Poissonier, Moldavia and Wallachia were inundated by the 
gipsies. In the latter principality the jjroverb runs: "Prayer 
never passes the lips of the '1 siganes and and their church was 
constructed of curds or lard and the dogs ate it." This same is 
also said of them by \'elas(iue/., in Spain. In Harper's exhaust- 
ive " Cyclopa;dia of Biblical, Theological and Kcclesiastical 
Literature," Gipsies are carefully treated: 

'•They bear difierent names in difterent countries. In France 
they are Bolumiens (because they first came thither from Bohe- 
mia, or from Boem. an old French word meaning "sorcerer," be- 
cause of their |)racticing on the credulity of the vulgar ; in Spain, 
Gitanos or /Jncali ; in (iermany, Zi^euner ; in Italy, lAiiit^ari ; in 
Holland, Heydenen (Heathens); in Sweden and Denmark, 
Tartars; in Sclavic countries, Tsii^ani ; in Hungary, Czi- 
ganjok ; in Turkey, I's/ieni^en/cr ; in Persia, Sisec/i ; in 
Arabia, Harami. Various nicknames are also applied to them, 
a.s Cao^onx and Gtieiix in France; 7Je/i-Gauritr (Wandering 
Rogues) in Germany ; and Tinklers in Scotland. They call 
themselves Rom (men, or husbands; comp. Co])tic AVw), Cai.o 
(black), or Sintk (from Ind : hence Zincali, or black men from 
Ind.) 

Some writers have connected them with the liyvvvaL, men- 
tioned by Herodotus (V., 9), as a people of Median extraction 
dwelling beyond the Lower Danube, and the '^ljivvoi, described 
by Strabo (§ 520), as living near Mount Caucasus, and jiractising 
Persian customs. Others have referred them variously to Tar- 
tary. Nubia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Kthiojiia, Morocco, &:c. ; but 
the account which the Gipsies, at their appearance in Western 
Europe gave of themselves, claimed " Little Egyi)t " as the 
original home of the race, whence they were driven in conse- 
quence of the Moslem conquests. • * 'I'he results of 
the investigations made within the last hundred years in the fields 
of comparative philology and ethnology jirove beyond reasonable 



32 

grounds of doubt that the theories above named are erroneous 
and that we must look to India, " the nursing home of nations," 
(telius gentium nutrix), as also the fatherland of tlie gipsies. It 
is now the almost, if not entirely, universally received opinion, 
that they came to Europe from Hindustan, either impelled by 
the ravages of Tamerlane, or, more probably, at an earlier date, 
in quest of fresh fields for the enjoyment of their vagabond life, 
and the exercise of their propensity for theft and deception. 
This view of their origin rests upon their physiological affinities 
with Asiatic types of men, as well as on the striking resemblances 
between the Gipsy language and Hindustanee, and the similarity 
of their habits and modes of life to those of many roving tribes of 
India, especially of the Nuts or ^^zsif^^/rj-, who are styled the 
Gipsies of India, and are counterparts of those in Europe, both in 
other respects and also in having no peculiar religion, since they 
have never adopted the worship of Brahma. The Nuts are 
thought by some to be an aboriginal race, prior even to the Hindus. 
Another theory, which seeks to reconcile the^ Gipsy statement of 
;in Egyptian origin with the clear evidences of a Hindu one, 
would find their ancestors in the mixed multitude that went out 
frtMii Egypt with Moses (see Exod. xii., 38; Num. xi., 4; Neh. 
\iii., 3), and who, according to this view, passed onward to India 
and settled there, and from their descendants subsequently bands 
of Gipsies migrated to Europe, probably at different times and 
by different routes (see Simson). . . . The Gipsies call their 
language " Rommany," and modern philological researches prove 
that it belongs to the Sanscrit family. It has doubtless received 
additions and modifications from the languages of the countries 
in which the race has sojourned, yet it is still so nearly the same 
with modern Hindustanee that a Gipsy can readily understand a 
person speaking in that dialect — a fact which tends to verify the 
statements made as to the zealous care with which the Gipsies 
have cherished their ancestral tongue. 



THE 



ARMY AND NAVY 

QUARTERLY. 

AN ECLECTIC MAGAZINE. 

VOL. I.— OCTOBER, 1885.— NO. 4. 



CONTKNTS. 

PAGE 

I. Electricity as applied to Naval Purposes. By Lieutenant W. A. Chishoi.m- 

Batten, R.N. (From the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution.). 385 
II. The Functions of Cavalry in Modern War (concluded). By Major Graves, 
Twentieth Hussars. (From the Journal of the Royal United Service Insti- 
tution.) 405 

III. The Literature of the Thirty Years' "War. V.y J. AVATT.q de Peyster, Brevet 

Mjijor-General S.N.Y 422 

IV. Tlie Actual and Ostensible Condition of llic Kuaaitiu Cavalry. By H. von 

Dewall. (Translated from the Jahrbiicher filr die Deutsche Armee und 
Marine by Stanislaus Remak, late First Lieutenant Fifth U. S. Artillery.). 400 
» . A Russian Criticism upon "The Actual and Ostensible Condition of the Russian 
Cavalry." (Translated from the Jahrbiicher fur die Deutsche Armee and 
Marine by Stanislaus Remak, late First Lieutenant Fifth U. S. Artillery.). 484 
VI. The Moral Element in Military Discipline. By Lieutenant Field-Marshal the 
Archduke John. (From the Journal of the Royal United Service Insti- 
tution.) . . ■ 493 



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ORIGINAL LABEL : 

' Coldeii'ii liiebig's liiqiiid Kxtract of Boef and Tonic Invigorator." 

(Originated and first Prepared by the I-iebig Meat Extract Co. London, Eng.) 



^♦■♦'♦■♦■♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦f ♦♦♦♦♦♦■♦■■»■< 



h-*-^-*- ♦»♦♦♦♦«♦ ■♦-ft 



An invaluable Aid in Medical Practice. 

Differs Essentially from all other Beef Tonics. 

COIiDEN'S Liquid Beef Tonic is endorsed by scores of physicians, who are growing to realize 
more and more its importance in repairing, in accordance with the principles of dietetics, the 
waste wllicll disease entails. It consists of the extract of Beef (by Baron Liebig's process) 
spirit rendered non-injurious to the most delicate stomach by extraction of the Fusel Oil, soluble Citrate of 
Iron, Cinchona, Gentian and other bitter tonics. An official analysis of this preparation by the eminent 
Chemist, ARTHUR HILL HASSALL, M. D., F. R. S., and an endorsement by the late SIR ERASMUS 
WILSON, F. R. S., is printed on the label of each bottle 

As a nutrient, and a reliable tonic in all cases of debility and weakness. Malarial Fever, 
Anaemia, Chlorosis, Incipient Consumption, etc., it is the best preparation ever used. It acts directly on the 
sentient Gastric Nerves, stimulating the follicles to secretion, and gives to weakened individuals that first 
prerequisite to improvement — an appetite. It strengthens the nervous system when unstrung by disease, 
and has been employed with remarkable success as a remedy for Drunkenness and the Opium Habit. 

Its Range of Action Embraces all Cases of Debility. 

In order that physicians may form some idea of the nature of its ingredients, I will upon application in 
person, or by letter (enclosing a card), send a sample bottle of Colden's Liquid Beef Tonic to any 
physician in regular standing, in the United States. Please ask your Dispensing Druggist (if he has not 
already a supply) to order it. In prescribing this preparation, physicians should be particular to mention 
"Colden's" — viz.: ** Ext. carnis, fl. coinp. (Colden's.)^* It is put up in pint bottles, and 
can be had of Wholesale and Retail Druggists generally throughout the United States. 

C. N. CRITTENTON, Sole Agent, 115 Pulton St. New- York. 



EJt=it=n>=|l=it==il=il=iLrTbnl=i»=il=ii==it=ii=ii=nt==it==ii=ii=nt==it=iL=nt=nt=ni=i 



GLENN'S 

gulpbur goap. 



ALL pnysicians know that skin diseases are more or 
less constitutional, or dependent upon some specific 
poison in the blond, which if eradicated by internal treatment 
needs something to remove its appearance from the surface. 
Experience has proved that the best possible aid in the accom- 
plishment of this end is obtained by the use of Sulphur in 
soap. GLF.NN'S SULPHUR SOAP is the best combina- 
tion of its kind, and the one now generally used. It is for 
sale by all Druggists, at 25 cents a cake, or 3 cakes for 60 
cents. 



(50^ISTAjMTI^IE'S 
PINE 



TAR 



SOAP 



Has been on trial among physicians for very many 
years as a toilet Soap and Healing Agent, and its 
superior virtues have been unanimously conceded in 
all cases vT-here the use of tax is indicated. 

Unsolicited expressions of its excellence have been 
received from the Medical Faculty generally. IT 
IS THE BEST TAR SOAP MADE. None 
genuine unless stamped "A. Constantine's Persian 
riealir.g Pine-Tar Soap." For sale by all Druggists. 



Either of the above-named Soaps will be mailed to any address on receipt of price and three cents extra per cake for postagre. 
Depot: C. N. CRITTENTON, 115 Fulton Street, New York. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



SCOTT S EMULSION 

OF PURE COD LIVER OIL 
AND HYPOPHOSPHITES OF LIME AND SODA. 

The Standard [mulsion of Cod Liver Oil. 

ALMOST AS PALATABLE AS MILK. 



The only preparation of its class that will not 
separate nor grow rancid in any climate. 

It contains more strengthening and fat pro- 
ducing qualities than any other preparation in 
the world. 

It is indorsed by the medical profession uni- 
versally. 

And in consumption, wasting disorders of 
children, scrofulous conditions, and general de- 
bility, it is most marvellous in its healing and 
strengthening powers. 

SCOTT & BOWNE, 

Sold by DriiggiNts Generally. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



VANITY FAIR 

Flake Cut Smoking Tobacco, 

IN TINS, FOR. ARMY AND NAVY USE. 




This popvilar brand is prepared in a condition to keep in any climate, and, by 
an ino-enious arrangement of a sponge in the cover of every box, consumers can 
dampen to suit their convenience. 

Requisitions for this Smoking Tobacco can be filled on application to proper 
department. If your commissarj'- does not keep this brand in stock, and is un- 
willing to order it, we will supply direct, at factory prices, by registered mail or 
express. 

FRAGRANT VANITY FAIR AND CLOTH OF GOLD CIGARETTES, 

13 First Prize IMedals A.-vea,rded.. 

WM. S, KIMBALL iSi CO. - - - - Rochester, N. Y. 



EAST FLORIDA SEMINARY, 

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA. 

Located at the most healthful point iu the State. Admirably adapted to the requirements of delicate lads 
who cannot endure the cold weatlier or heated school-rooms of the North. Complete English, Classical, 
Scientific, and Business Courses. Military Department under charge of an officer of the Regular Army. 
For descriptive catalogue of the Seminary, apply to Col. E. P. CATEK, Gainesville, Fla. 

The New York Tribune. 

FA3L.1L< OF" 1885. 



ANIMATED, KEADABLE, THOE-OUGHLY AMERICAN, WHOLESOME. 

THE SUNDAY ISSUE A BRILLIANT PAPER. 

Two Thousand Dollars' Worth of News, Sketches, and Stories for a Pew Cents. 

THE TRIBUNE contains more items of news— telegraphic, local, social, 
athletic, sporting, etc.— than any other New York paper. 

Its Sunday collection of notable articles by distinguished writers a-t home 
and abroad, who write over their own signatures, is without a parallel in New 
York. Read the lively review of all manly sports in the Sunday paper. 

Geo. "W. Smalley's letters from London give a clearer idea of English 
affairs and politics than the London papers themselves. This is admitted. 

THE TRIBUNE represents the great business interests of the country, 
and the prosperity of our own people, in the controversies now going on relative 
to the tariff. In the discussions relative to Army and Navy, The Tribune 
favors putting the country into a state of good defence. 

THE TRIBTJNE, Daily and Sunday, $8.50 per year; Daily only,»7.00; Semi- Weekly, S2.50 
per year; Weekly, Si. 25. 

Address XHE TRIBUNE, New York. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



Ill 




VICTORY! 




(Trade-Mark.) (Trade-Mark.) 

We have solved the problem at last — producing a Smoking Tobacco equal in delicacy 
of flavor to the choicest of the fancy brands, and at the same time have been able to put it at 
the popular price of 

5^^ ^^^ ^^ ^—^ ^ It is mannfacfured from the 

CENTS a pack- 1| ||| ■ A|| || | '^ZL^.l^Z.^tLTo^^^Xl 
age, neatly put If ¥n mil 11 V ?;;-•;- -^^^^^^^^^^ 
up in Tin Foil W llj 1 IJIl I \ ^r^:^'^::^^^;^ 
Wrapper. W Iw I Wll I | '" «'«^y"'»'-^»° «"'*!'"'" »'"> 



United States. 



Read what "Old Rosy,' 

The Hero of Corinth and Stone's River, says: " // /5 delightful fOY 

smokers." Yours respecl fully." 



Gen. Paul Van Der Voort, late Commander-in-Chief of 
the Grand Army, sends the following: "^qUY VlClory Smoking TobOCCO 

is delightful ammunition for the Meerschaum, t like it very much." 



/^A^u^y 



S/Lrln^^^ 



Gen. Geo. S. Merrill, ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Grand 

Army, says : ^quy Victory is Well named. For delicacy of flavor it 
can't -well be surpassed, and it is laden with contentment when 
put into a pipe. Yours very truly." 



Greatest in Quantity! 
Finest in Quality ! 
Cheapest in Price! 




BfriyTlie Victory Sinokiiig Tobacco should be found at all tobacconists. 
If you cannot (ind it send to us direct, inclosing fSKVE\ CENTS in 
stamps, and \vc will mail you a sample package. In such a case you 
will do us a favor also to send us the name of the leading Tobacco 
Dealer or (iroei-r in y«»ur town, in order that we may take steps to 
place it where you can procure it conveniently in future. 

Have y.Mi tried the t elebrated GOLD COIN CHEWING TOBACCO? 
The best and purest. Popular price, I'lVE cents. Ily mail, same as 
** Victory." Address 

D. BUCHNER & CO., New York City. 

Mention "Army and Navy Quarterly." 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



COMPARATIVE WORTH of BAKING POWDERS. 



ROYAL (Absolutely Pure). 
GRANT'S (Alum Powder)* 
RUMFORD'S, when fre8li..B 
HANFORD'S, when fresh. . . 

REDHEAD'S 

CHARM (Alum Powder) * . . . 
AMAZON (Alum Powder) * . 

CLEVELAND'S(short^.■t.ioz.)| 

PIONEER (San Francisco)... 

CZAR 

DR. PRICE'S 

SNOW FLAKE (Groff's)... 
LEWIS' 

PEARL (Andrews & Co.) 

HECKER'S 

GILLET'S 

ANDREWS&CO."Regar 

Milwaukee, (Contains Alum.) 

BULK (Powder sold loose). . . . 
RUMFORD'S, when not fresh 




REPORTS OF GOVERNMENT CHEMISTS 
As to Purity and Wliolesomeness of the Royal Baking Powder. 

" I have tested a packajEje of Royal Baking Powder, which I purchased in the 
open market, and find it composed of pure and wholesome ingredients. It is a cream 
of tartar powder of a high degree of merit, and does not contain either alum or 
phosphates, or other injurious substances. E. G. Love, Ph.D." 

" It is a scientific fact that the Royal Baking Powder is absolutely pure. 

"11. A. MOTT, Ph.D." 

" I have examined a package of Royal Baking Powder, purchased by myself in 
the market. I find it entirely free from alum, terra alba, or any other injurious sub- 
stance. Henky Mokton, Ph.D., President of Stevens Institute of Technology." 

" I have analyzed a package of Royal Baking Powder. The materials of which 
it is composed are pure and wholesome. S. Dana Hates, State Assayer, Mass." 

The Royal Baking Powder received the highest award over all competitors at 
the Vienna World's Exposition, 1873 ; at the Centennial, Philadelphia, 1876 ; at the 
American Institute, New York, and at State Fairs throughout the country. 

No other article of human food has ever received such high, emphatic, and uni- 
versal endorsement from eminent chemists, physicians, scientists, and Boards of 
Health all over the world. 

Note — The above Diagram illustrates the comparative worth of various Baking 
Powders, as shown by Chemical Analysis and experiments made by Prof. Schedler. 
A pound can of each powder was taken, the total leavening power or volume in 
each can calculated, the result being as indicated. This practical test for worth by 
Prof. Schedler only proves what eveiy observant consumer of the Royal Baking 
Powder knows by practical experience, that, while it costs a few cents per pound 
more than ordinary kinds, it is far more economical, and, besides, affords the advan- 
tage of better work. A single trial of the Royal Baking Powder will convince any 
fair-minded person of these facts. 

* While the diagram shows some of the alum powders to be of a higher degree 
of strength than other powders ranked below them, it is not to be taken as indicat- 
ing that they have any value. All alum powders, no matter how high their strength, 
ve to be avoided as dangerous. 



TH K 



Army and Navy Quarterly, 



Vol. I. OCTOBER, 1885. No. 4. 

ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES/ 

BY LIEUTENANT W. A. CIIISHOLM-BATTEX, R.N. 

I. Application for General Purposes. 
II. Application for War Purposes. 

These are in some cases mixed, and there is no sharply-defined 
line between them, — take electric lighting as an instance. The ordinary 
internal lighting of a ship is quite distinct in itself from search-light- 
ing, though produced by much the same means. They have both 
grown independently; but in a ship of war, the great object should be 
to combine the two. 

Electricity is a great power in skilled hands, and can be used with 
safety and certainty even by slightly trained men, if only enough care 
and thought be taken in designing electrical appliances to make their 
use easy and abuse difficult. 

The applications of electricity on board ship are various, and differ 
greatly. Sometimes it is necessary to use the electric force in such a 
way that it has j)ower to melt any metal, to produce an intense light 
rivaling that of the sun, to propel a vessel, or to give severe and even 
fatal shocks to those handling its mechanism. At other times it is 
so gently applied that although it acts through the human body, it 
cannot be felt by the most tender child ; and at others, it is so 
exquisitely sensitive that it will carry faithfully the distinct tone of a 

' Bead before the Royal United Service Institution. 
Vol. I.— No. 4. 25 



386 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUAETERLY. October 

certain voice, and indicate a change in its neighborhood so slight as the 
movement by inclies of an ounce of lead. 

The two properties of the electric current which are generally made 
use of are, first, that of causing heat when a comparatively great 
resistance is placed in the circuit; and, secondly, that of giving 
magnetic properties to any conductor through which it passes. 

An apology is due for going into matters so simple, but in case 
there may be some who may not be familiar with these points, tliey 
will be briefly explained. 

Electricity for naval purposes is produced by what may be termed 
a generator, which is generally either a machine deriving its power 
from the burning of coal, or a battery deriving its power from the slow 
burning of zinc. 

The next part of any electric appliance to be considered is the 
circuit, that is to say, a conductor, generally metal, which allows the 
current to circulate from the generator to the place of application, and 
back again. This is generally formed of copper or iron wire. 

The part of the conductor or lead which goes from the generator to 
the place of application may be called the main, and the part which 
comes back may be called the return. 

When the result desired is the developing of heat or light, a high 
resistance, that is a small conductor, or one of a comparatively badly 
conducting substance, is introduced in the circuit at the desired place. 

For instance, if the electricity originally obtained by the burning 
of coal, and then carried in an accumulator, be allowed to pass by a 
main wire %vhich must touch the accumulator, to an incandescent or 
glow-lamp and back by a return wire, heat and light are produced in 
the thread of carbon in the lamp, which has a high resistance. 

Or again, if the electricity produced by the burning of zinc in a 
battery be allowed to pass through the main to a small wire and back 
again, sufficient heat is produced to fire a charge of gunpowder. 

When the result required is an exertion of magnetic force, the 
simplest, or at any rate the most familiar, form is the electric bell. In 
a circuit from a battery which slowly burns zinc, a current passes round 
a coil of wire, causing it to act as a magnet and to attract a piece of 
iron which makes the clapper strike the bell. 

Or again, if the current, originally obtained from the burning of 
coal, be allowed to pass by the main to a magnetic arrangement and 
back by the return, the result is magnetic action which causes motion, 
and is sufficient to drive a boat or any useful machine. 

Thus much of the simple principles of electricity. 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 387 

Electric Lifjhting. 

Tlie most important ajjplication of electricity for naval purposes is, 
perhaps, the lighting of ships. 

Electric lighting is almost entirely carried out by an extension of 
the simple aj)pliances which have been described. The current passes 
from the electric machine or generator along the main to the lamps 
and back by the return; that is to say, the illumination in a ship of 
war is carried out by a large number of glow-lamps — usually about 
three hundred — of about twenty candle-power, that is, twenty wax 
candles, eight to the pound. The electric machine is usually driven by 
a steam-engine. 

The advantages claimed for the use of electric lighting on board 
ship are many of them applicable, as you will notice, to its use on 
shore. 

1. It is cheaper than oil, — at any rate than the oils allowed to be 
used on board men-of-war, and still more so than candles, which have 
hitherto been the general illuminants. 

2. There is far greater safety from fire, as there is no occasion for 
carrying matches about or lighted candles, which in spite of rigid 
rules are often used naked. This is hardly surprising when one hears 
of the trouble which has to be taken to avoid naked lights being used 
in mines; the use of electric lighting also does away with that incu- 
bator of fires, — the lamp-room. 

3. It hardly heats the air, and does not foul it at all. 

Many merchant steamers and some ships in the navy are thus 
lighted, the principal reason against its extended use in the latter being 
the fact that men-of-war pass much of their time without getting up 
steam, but in troop-ships it has been almost universally introduced. 

Andrews & Co., of Glasgow, have just completed on board the 
" Etruria" a large installation which, in its proportions, surpasses any- 
thing that has hitherto been attempted in the application of electric 
light to steam-ships. The " Etruria" carries about eight hundred and 
fifty lights, and a brief description will no doubt be interesting. Swan 
glow-lamps are used, and of these ninety are distributed in the engine- 
room, stoke-holes, etc. One hundred and three lights altogether are 
used for lighting the main dining-saloon, eighty-four of which are sus- 
pended over the tables in three-light electroliers hanging from the 
ceiling. The remainder of the lamps are in small brackets and pend- 
ants so as to give light over the side seats. Above the saloon is the 
music-room, having seventeen lights round the walls and over the 



388 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

piano and organ. The smoking-room has also seventeen lamps. The 
remainder of the lamps are distributed about the ship, one hundred 
and seventy-two being in the state-rooms. 

Besides the actual internal lighting of ships, electricity is used for 
the bow and mast-head lights. I understand that the Board of Trade 
does not object to the use of the electric light for ships' side lights, but 
it requires oil-lamps to be kept in reserve in case of failure. With 
regard to mast-head lights, however, the Board discourages the use of 
electricity, partly on the ground of its liability to get out of order in 
consequence of vibration, and partly in consequence of the brilliancy 
of the light tending to interfere with shore lights, and cause confusion. 
It is in fact not used for mast-head lights, and only in a few cases for 
side lights, and it has not been thought necessary to issue any general 
instructions, though the Board of Trade is now in communication with 
the Admiralty on the subject. 

On this point there has been some discussion. The first lights used 
were very much brighter than the oil-lamps which they replaced, and 
caused mistakes from their being taken for light-houses, or from the 
distance of the ship using them being misjudged. There is, however, 
great advantage in their use, from such use securing certain knowledge 
that the lights are all right. This is effected by the current passing to 
the lamp through an indicator on the bridge, in view of the officer of 
the watch. 

The ordinary lights carried by ships-of-war when cruising in com- 
pany are now in some cases electric, and the electric light has been 
ingeniously adapted to signaling purposes. 

One of the most complete arrangements got out by the well-known 
firm of Sautter Lemonier is as follows : 

Two groups, of five glow-lamps each, are suspended at a certain 
distance above each other, and the current is allowed to pass to one or 
more of them by a key-board in the deck-house. In order to prevent 
mistakes, the signal is set before the current is allowed to pass to the 
required lamps, and this setting lights up a corresponding signal in 
front of the operator, thus : He wishes to show four lights, and puts 
four lamps in connection with a main switch. In doing so, he un- 
covers four little illuminated windows in front of him. Satisfied by 
the appearance of this signal, he switches on the current from the gen- 
erator, confident that his signal will be correct. A switch is merely a 
means of connecting or disconnecting one conductor from another, as 
is also a firing key, which will be mentioned later on. Or the signaling 
may be done by hoisting the light and signaling with the key; or again 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 389 

by dipping the light in a bucket. There is also an application of the 
glow or incandescent lamp for the purpose of coaling or doing other 
work at night. In this case a group of about a dozen lamps are placed 
under a reflector which is triced up to the yard-arm, so as to light up 
the deck of the ship and tiie coal wharf or vessel alongside. 

The glow-lamp is also useful for the diver, either in thick water or 
at night ; but special precautions have to be taken to prevent the globe 
being broken by pressure, and for this purpose it is inclosed in a second 
thick glass globe. 

The electricity for the lamp is cither derived from above water 
through wires kept carefully dry, and not touching any metal, or it is 
in some cases provided by a battery carried by the diver with the lamp. 

Messrs. Siebe & Gorman's lamp is of the latter kind. The lamp 
is mounted in a parabolic reflector fixed to the- side of the battery-box. 
The battery will keep a constant light going for four to five hours. 

We now come to a different form of illumination, called the arc light. 
In this arrangement, a suitable current of electricity is allowed to ])ass 
through two carbon rods in contact, and then they are slightly separated. 
The effect of this resistance or space introduced into the circuit by sepa- 
rating, is to produce a very brilliant light, proceeding partly from the 
heated carbon rods, and partly from a luminous arc between them. 

This light is very intense, too much so for many purposes. The 
carbons burn away, so that some arrangement is necessary for bringing 
them within the proper distance for the arc, and for replacing them 
when entirely consumed. 

This arc light has been used for internal lighting, mast-head lights, 
and coaling lights, but the necessity of having some apparatus for feed- 
ing the carbons and other causes have forced it to give way generally, 
for these purposes, to the simpler glow light. 

For the search light, however, used for discovering torpedo-boats 
approaching a ship, bombarding forts, and so on, the arc light is a 
necessity, as great intensity is required. The search light is a warlike 
appliance, but had better be considered in connection with other uses 
of electric lighting. It is very useful for other purposes, such as clear- 
ing the anchor at night, and such peaceful, or at any rate unwarlike 
operations. When the arc is used for a search light, its rays are all 
collected by means of lenses or mirrors, and projected in one beam, so 
as to get the strongest possible light. 

The difference in power is immense between the glow and arc lights 
in ordinary use at sea; the glow-lamp representing only a few candles, 
seldom more than twenty, but the arc as now used about twenty-five 



390 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

thousand, and a far more intense arc light has been produced on shore. 
A boat can be discovered by it at a great distance. 

In the West Indies, in a fine clear atmosphere, a building has been 
picked out clearly enough to be aimed at with a gun, at a distance of 
two and a half miles, the light used being about eight thousand ca,ndles ; 
but great difficulty was experienced in keeping the beam on the object, 
as one could not see any distance unless standing away from the light. 

To obviate this, means have been devised for directing the beam by 
an observer at some distance from the lamp. 

The search lights in general use are worked by a man who screws 
the carbons together as they burn away ; this method, undoubtedly 
crude, has been adopted chiefly for simplicity's sake, but it is high 
time that a suitable automatic lamp — that is, one which is self-feeding 
— should be introduced, and that the direction of the beam should be 
in the hands of the observer, although he is necessarily at some distance 
from the light. 

The electric lights belonging to the ships have been considerably 
used during the operations in Egypt ; one was landed, generator and 
all, at Alexandria, and another at Suakim. The ligiit was also much 
used at the latter place from on board, for discovering the approach of 
the enemy at night. 

For signaling, the arc light has been used for many years, the 
process being to flash the beam up in the sky in longs and shorts, using 
the Morse or some similar code. 

To show what may be done in this way, it may be mentioned that 
during some of the electric light night exercises carried out at Ports- 
mouth from the Torpedo School, the flashes of a light of about twenty 
thousand candles were distinctly seen thirty-one miles from the ship, a 
low range of hills intervening ; and a similar light was reported to be 
seen still farther when shown from a tower of the Philadelphia Exhibi- 
tion last year. 

Again, some ships being anchored in Ragusa and others in Gravesa, 
signaled to each other in spite of the hills between, by flashing an arc 
light up in the sky. 

There is no difficulty in lighting up a building at two miles' distance 
with a twenty thousand candle light. 

Electric Communications. 

From signaling by the light at a distance, one passes naturally to 
other means of communication for which purpose electricity is more 
universally used than for any other. 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 391 

Telegraphy, in the nature of things, is not in use much outside the 
ship, from the difticultics of bringing in the wires with a ship swinging 
round her anchor ; but means have been devised for this useful object 
which are especially api)licable to light-ships: telephones, and soon, 
can of course be used from a ship moored head and stern, — in fact, 
light is sometimes supplied in this way. 

As regards electricity within the ship herself, the uses are manifold. 

The ordinary electric bell I need hardly dwell upon, but the two 
appliances most esj)ecially required in men-of-war are first, a means of 
knowing the speed of the vessel at any time, and secondly, of telegraph- 
ing distances of the enemy ascertained in the tops, to the captain and 
gun-batteries. 

I am not aware of any method, which is in very general use, for 
obtaining the first result. But there are numerous approaches to it. 

There are many instruments which give the speed of the ship or 
engines for a greater or less period of time, but what is required in a 
man-of-war is to know the speed at any instant. 

Various electric logs do the first ; that is to say, the space passed 
over can be noted during any period, but the speed at a given instant 
is not shown. Even an instrument which showed at any instant the 
speed of the engines would be a useful improvement. 

The principle of most electric logs is that the revolutions of the 
fan periodically close a circuit. When this is done, a dial hand moves 
on one division, usually a tenth of a mile. If, then, the electric log 
be joined up to a recorder in the captain's cabin, and another in the 
chart-house, and set at noon, both the captain and the officer of the 
watch can see at any time how far the ship has run since then, or since 
the last time the instrument was looked at. 

The difficulties of a joint which shall connect two conductors, and 
yet be able to stand continually being revolved, appear to have been 
dealt with in an original manner in the " Dollond" log; the principle 
is protected by patent, and is applicable to the attachment of M'ires for 
signaling to light-ships or other vessels swinging round their anchors. 

This log will be sufficient to give an idea of these instruments. 

The log used in the navy for recording the distance jiassed over by 
a ship consists in a fan which is towed on the quarter of the ship, and 
which, as it revolves, shows the number of miles passed over on a dial 
plate attached. The disadvantage is that it has to be got on board in 
order to see how much distance has been run. 

Other logs which are much used in mail steamers have a fan towing, 
but the recorder is on the taffrail, and is turned by the towing line. 



392 THE AEMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

The disadvantage is that the recorder can be in one place only, and 
only one recorder can be used. 

It is claimed for the electric log that it is more trustworthy than 
the taffrail log, and more useful than either, in so far as one or more 
recorders can be placed in any required position. The advantage is 
obvious in any ship in cruising time; but in a ship of war in action 
its value is enormously increased, for it is easy to place telephones in 
connection at any required point in the pilot towers, at the Whitehead 
directors, gun directors, and gun-deck, for in firing a gun it is necessary 
to know speed, and still more necessary when firing a torpedo. 

It indicates at once any mishap to the log, by fouling or carrying 
away. 

It saves the labor, loss of time, and error of registration involved 
in hauling in the log, which can remain in the water, unless fouled, 
until entering port. 

The instantaneous registration of the distance run between two 
bearings enables navigators to calculate with accuracy their position in 
reference to a light, headland, or other fixed object. 

The indicator can be reset on board at any moment. 

The addition of a small self-contained apparatus and a bell, which 
can be placed with the indicator or in any other part of the vessel, 
communicates by sound the regular working of the log, and enables 
the officer on watch to detect any irregularity and to take instantaneous 
bearings at given distances, without referring to the indicator or the 
log. 

A distance indicator devised by Lieutenants Jackson and Anson, 
of the " Vernon," has undergone already a trial in the " Excellent" 
and "Vernon," and has been favorably reported on. The indicating 
hand is rotated in either direction, one step at a time. A spring brake 
prevents it from being thrown out of adjustment by the concussion of 
firing heavy guns. A bell is fitted in the receiver which rings each 
time a signal is completed. In the transmitter, a red disc shows when 
the circuit is completed, and the battery running on circuit. The in- 
struments are carefully protected from wet; they will work in any 
position, and are entirely unaffected by damp and gun-fire; two wires 
are used with each circuit for connecting transmitter with receiver. 
The commutator, however, is of delicate construction, and the springs 
on the armatures require careful adjustment for efficient working with 
low battery power. 

The great defect seems that there is no method of telling whether 
the two instruments, transmitter and receiver, are indicating the same 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 393 

signal, and if the battery be left on circuit for long it may fail to work 
the instrument. 

The telephone is used from ship to shore, when ships are moored. 
In the " Vernon" one was used to the captain's house and found most 
useful. Through this telephone, some eight years ago, an officer 
recognized Professor Bell's voice, which he only knew from having 
heard him lecture iu London, and he did not know the professor was 
in Portsmouth. 

The application of the telephone to diving is most valuable, and in 
my experience was perhaps the means of saving a man's life. He was 
just able to say, " Pull me up," and was found quite insensible. It is 
strange to be capable of hearing a man below water, a mile away, as 
well as if he was at your side. Some difficulties were experienced at 
first, but have now been completely overcome. The same apparatus can 
be adapted for use on shore. 

Telegraphy for parties landed, though not a usual equipment, is 
very useful, and I have seen shipmates with a small field telegraph 
consisting of a couple of sounders and reels of wire carried by men. 

For automatic indicators, electricity may be used to indicate too 
great a rise of temperature in any compartment, to indicate if the ship 
is off her course — this is similar to an arrangement which will be de- 
scribed for steering a torpedo — or to indicate if the barometer falls 
beyond a certain point. 

The application of electricity to testing the lightning conductors of 
ships is so simple that any trained seaman can obtain the resistance, 
without delic^ate instruments, with fair accuracy. 

The propulsion and steering of boats by electricity is a subject 
which almost requires a separate paper to itself, and although some- 
times used for war and sometimes for peace, the api)liance is naturally 
similar whether a boat be carrying a torpedo or a policeman. Some 
particulars of two boats which could carry either may be interesting. 

The " Electricity," which was fitted by the Electrical Power Storage 
Company two years ago, and which has run successfully many hundreds 
of miles, is twenty-five feet long. 

The "Australia," built by the order of Messrs. Stephens, Smith & 
Company, is of the same length ; batteries or boxes of stored electricity 
in the boat, work a screw propeller. The cost of the "Australia" is 
about one hundred and eighty pounds complete. 

Each boat carries eight besides the coxswain. Speed about seven 
or eight knots. 

The advantages of electric propulsion are, — 



394 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

(1) Entire absence of noise in the boat; in fact, the only noise is 
that caused by the plash of the water against the boat's bows. 

(2) Xo smoke to interfere with the man steering. 

(3) No "flare up," which is practically impossible to prevent in 
very fast boats from the great draught up the funnel. 

(4) No heat, which tells so much on the stokers in a torpedo-boat. 

(5) Not so large a number of men required as in a steamboat. 
The disadvantage of this form of motive power is of course the 

necessity of having means to recharge the cells again after use; but 
should this prove a successful experiment, regular charging stations 
could easily be provided for a boat to go alongside and have her cells 
charged, as, for instance, night patrol-boats could be charged alongside 
a jetty during the day for use at night. From the absence of heat 
this form of motive power would be most valuable in very hot climates. 

The various appliances in a submarine cable-ship are special in 
their character, and are hardly to be considered generally naval. 

One of these is a cable creeper which has a push in angle of the 
creep, so that if it ciitches a cable it rings a bell. 

Now in the descriptions about to be given, reference will be often 
made to " testing." This testing is for the purpose of seeing whether 
the circuit, including the actual place of a})plication, is in good order. 
The principal test is to see that the conductor and appliance have a 
complete circuit. To do this, a small current is allowed to pass round 
the circuit, too small to cause any appreciable heat, or to work the 
magnet, but large enough to affect an indicator or ring a bell, which 
only require a small current, thus showing all is correct. Should there 
be any break in the circuit, the little current cannot pass, and so cannot 
ring the bell or affect the indicator. 

The current is supplied by a battery. A simple test-battery and 
indicator will easily show whether there is any break or not in a coil 
of wire, or any electric circuit. 

ELECTRICITY APPLIED TO WAR PURPOSES. 

Firing Guns. 

We will now consider the applications of electricity to war purposes 
afloat, the first, the one considered most important, being firing guns. 

The method of firing guns by electricity is simple. 

The method of heating a wire by passing electricity through it has 
already been explained. 

To fire a gun, the electric current is allowed to pass through a piece 
of fine wire surrounded by powder, and placed in the vent of the gun. 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 395 

A firing key is used to allow the current to pass from the battery through 
the main wire to the little tube of powder in the gun, and then back 
by the return. If a very small current be sent through the circuit, it 
will not heat the resistance; and if it be made to ring a bell in the 
pilot-tower, the officer in charge knows that the circuit is all right. 

Some of the advantages of firing guns by electricity are as follows: 

When firing a broadside of guns together, if electricity i)e used, it 
is fired much more simultaneously than when using hand firing; and 
when firing single guns, the action is more instantaneous. This may 
be illustrated by a well-known machine. Any man trying to fire a 
gun at a certain time, or when certain objects are in a line, is only more 
or less successful in doing so, — generally less. 

Another very important advantage of firing guns by electricity is 
that they can all be fired by an observer clear of the smoke of the gun- 
deck. 

Again, the guns can be fired from a bullet-proof pilot-tower as the 
ship passes close by the enemy by any one person or the captain him- 
self, the crew lying down or being placed out of the way. This is es- 
pecially advantageous in ships which have their guns on the upper deck 
exposed to machine-gun fire. 

Again, there are cases where the object cannot be seen from the gun, 
and electric firing provides an easy means of firing from aloft on the 
mast. Thus a ship in the Suez Canal fired at a train in motion, which 
was only visible from aloft, and hit it. 

Again, the gun can be aimed at a fixed floating plank, and be 
arranged so as to fire when the plank is touched. In fact, it acts as a 
spring gun against torpedo-boats. 

Electric firing for a single gun was recommended by the Chilian 
officers after the action in which the " Iluascar" was taken, as the most 
likely to be effective. 

It must be allowed that there is the disadvantage with electricity of 
the chance of damage being done to the circuit, but this would be 
shown by the bell in the pilot-tower. On the other hand, the advan- 
tage is that its use simply alters a heavy pull-off to a light one, — in 
fact, it may be called a hair-trigger. 

Automatic Firing. — This is an arrangement for firing when the ship 
is rolling; for instance, the gun is required to be fired when the ship is 
upright, the circuit passes through a balance so arranged as only to con- 
nect the two parts of the circuit, that from the generator and that to tiie 
gun, when the ship is upright; so that directly the ship is in tliat posi- 
tion the guns are fired. 



396 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

The method is claimed to nave been brought to great perfection, but 
is not so simple as it looks. 

Electricity may be used to light up the foresight at night. An ap- 
pliance for this purpose has been invented by Captain McEvoy, the 
well-known torpedoist. It consists of a little battery and glow-lamp, 
which is screened except in the direction of the foresight. The elec- 
tricity has to pass through a similar arrangement to that mentioned 
above for automatic firing, so that the lamp is only lit when required. 

It is capable of a much more practical application than automatic 
firing, as a wide margin can be allowed to cover any error from the 
rolling of the ship. 

It seems specially useful for resisting night torpedo attacks. 

And now for torpedoes, which come next, at least, in importance. 

Electricity is used for firing, propelling, and discharging torpedoes. 

Just a word as to what torpedoes are. They are movable subma- 
rine charges of explosives, used offensively. 

The name " torpedo" is, oddly enough, derived from the electric 
fish, but I do not suppose he who first applied the word ever thought 
that electricity would be so much used for firing these charges. 

Firing Spar Torpedoes. 

The spar torpedo is the simplest form, consisting of a charge at the 
end of a pole, which is put under an enemy's ship, and exploded. 

For this form of torpedo electricity is now exclusively used, and 
the arrangement is usually as follows: To the battery a firing-key is 
attached by a wire. This key is joined to the main, so that on pressing 
the key the circuit is complete through a fuse which is similar in prin- 
ciple to the glow-lamp and which is in the torpedo, then back by the 
return to the battery, — an exactly similar plan to switching on lamps or 
firing guns. 

There is also an arrangement by which the battery is joined to the 
main direct, and the main goes to an automatic firing-key in the head 
of the torpedo, which acts on striking, then by the fuse and return wire 
back to the battery. 

A combination of these methods is generally used, though probably 
a separation of them would be better. The spar torpedo, though so 
simple, has at present the greatest score — at least half a dozen ships — 
against traveling torpedoes, one ; and towing torpedoes none. The 
cases occurred in the American civil war, Russo-Turkish, and Franco- 
Chinese wars. 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 397 

As in the case of the gun, a small current can be sent through the 
fuse, and can ring a bell or work an indicator so as to show the circuit 
is correct. 

Finng Towing Torpedoes. 

The next torpedo, which to a great extent owed its want of favor 
in our service to being introduced without electrical means of ignition, 
is the towing torpedo. This is, I believe, always fired by contact with 
the enemy's ship. When electricity is used, the circuit is from the 
battery to a contact piece in the torpedo, then to the fuse, and back by 
the return to the battery. 

Though we are only concerned with electric firing, it should be 
explained that if any other method of exploding a torpedo is used, it 
is, after once being made dangerous, equally so to friend or foe. 

"With all electrical appliances the removal of the wires from con- 
nection with the battery renders the torpedo as harmless as a box of 
explosives can be. 

Batteries are the usual generators for firing torpedoes. Sometimes, 
however, an exploder is used in which the power is derived from a 
man's muscular action. 

Firing, Propelling, and Steeinng Fish Torpedoes. 

Fish torpedoes claim our attention next, and there are many kinds 
of them ; but those with which electricity is used are few ; in them 
the force developed in some part of the circuit is made use of to 
produce motion or put the rudder one way or the other, or simply to 
fire. 

When electricity is used for igniting the charge, all torpedoes are 
fired in a similar way to one of those described for the spar and towing 
torpedoes, namely, at will or by contact. 

1. There are torpedoes which are propelled from, and controlled 
from their base, as the Sims, named "controlled torpedoes." 

2. There are torpedoes which contain their own ])r(>pclling power 
and are uncontrolled and unconnected with the position from which 
they are started; for instance, Paulson's. They have been called 
"auto-mobile" torpedoes. 

3. There are others which contain their own propelling power but 
are connected with and controlled from their " base" ; for instance, the 
Lay. They have been called locomotive. 

First, those drivai by electricity. 

This is done either by electricity stored in accumulators and put 



398 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

in the torpedo, or through wires bringing the electricity from the base 
of operations. 

In addition to fixed submarine mines, it has been considered neces- 
sary, in some cases, for coast defense to make use of a controlled 
motive torpedo, principally for attacking ships which attempt to clear 
a passage through the submarine defenses. 

For this purpose a torpedo is required having the following 
properties : 

1. Long range. 

2. Handiness with the helm. 

3. A heavy charge, so as to be dangerous even if stopped by a 
ship's net defense. 

4. Security from enemy's fire. 

5. Power of passing floating obstructions. 

6. Not easily seen or stopped by enemy. 

7. A motive power always ready, and not dangerous. 

8. Constant speed to end of run. 

9. Charge exploded at proper depth, for a charge on the surface is 
comparatively harmless. 

The torpedoes of Ericsson, Lay, Howell, Whitehead, etc., are not 
considered by some good judges to fulfill these requirements as com- 
pletely as that of Sims. 

Common defects are, great complication, difficulty of preparing and 
keeping the torpedo ready, danger of explosion from the substance 
which drives it, great exposure to fire of enemy, want of speed, charge 
at the surface, etc. 

The Whitehead is considered unsuitable on account of its compara- 
tively short range, because it cannot be steered, and for other reasons. 

The Sims torpedo is of the ordinary cigar or fish shape, and is 
driven by a current of electricity from a generator on shore, which 
passes through a wire laid out by the torpedo as it goes, and works a 
screw propeller. The torpedo can be steered and fired by electricity 
from the shore through the same cable. The torpedo is suspended a 
few feet below the surface from a float which is just awash. There 
are two different sizes, — the larger carrying two miles of wire and a 
charge of four hundred pounds of dynamite. 

The two-mile torpedo is of copper so as not to rust, and is about 
twenty -eight feet long. The cable, which will just sink, is carried in 
a chamber to which the water is freely admitted, so that the buoyancy 
of the torpedo is but little increased as the cable is paid out. The 
charge is in the head. The wire chamber, M'hich has a short tube under- 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 399 

neath leading aft, through which the wire is paid out, is in tlie centre, 
and the driving and steering gear are in the after part of the torpedo. 
The steering is done by a separate current from a battery; tlie helm 
can only be put hard over either way, and when released is brought 
amidships by the action of the water. 

Tlie torpedo is suspended by strong steel frames about four feet 
under a boat-shaped copper float of about the same length as the tor- 
pedo, but whose bow is a few feet farther aft. A steel cutwater 
connects the bows, and, as it slopes downward and forward from the 
float, tends to force the torpedo under any boom or floating obstruction 
it may meet with. 

The float is built in water-tight compartments, and filled with some 
buoyant substance, so that it is difficult to sink it. It carries the 
usual two upright rods, — one with a white, the other a red ball in the 
daytime and lamps at night. The rods are pivoted with counterweights 
so as to give and lie flat when passing under an obstruction, and to 
rise again when clear. The speed is said to be twelve knots. 

The cable is of copper wire, and a small insulated wire in the heart 
of the main cable is used for steering. 

The torpedo may of course easily be arranged to fire on contact if 
required. When it was tried by running at a spar, a spectator who 
was in a boat near did not see it, although watching for it, until it was 
within five hundred yards. The torpedo hit the spar in two successive 
trials within four feet of the point aimed at, and the marks on the spar 
were one and a half feet from each other. 

The float has been riddled by bullets, and yet remained serviceable. 

The great disadvantage of the torpedo is its want of speed. Some 
less clumsy method of maintaining it at its proper depth would, doubt- 
less, very much increase the speed. 

There is no doubt an advantage in controlled torpedoes which have 
their motive power on shore, and therefore have to carry less weight, 
but they can be only used from a special base. 

Then those steered by electricity, though with some other driving 
power. 

The Paulson Torpedo. — In this fish torpedo the steering is electrical. 
The motive power is supplied by liquefied carbonic acid. This torpedo 
is automatically steered in a direct or straight course by means of a 
mariner's compass, the needle of which, on any deviation of the torpedo 
from its course, makes contact witli one or other of two insulated studs 
situated on either side of one end of the needle, and completes an electric 
circuit ; a lever then causes one propeller to revolve at a (piicker speed 



400 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

than the other, and thus steer the torpedo and bring it back to its set 
course. Supposing the torpedo to be approaching an ironclad, the 
mass of iron would cause the needle to make contact with one of the 
studs and the torpedo to be steered directly away from the ironclad, 
unless its path were due north and south (magnetic), and, to prevent 
this, a needle of a second compass in the head of the torpedo is ar- 
ranged to short circuit the battery when attracted to one side or the 
other by the mass of iron. 

The shell of the torpedo is made of compressed waterproof paper 
pulp, which is light and strong, has no effect on the compass-needles, 
and is not easily affected itself. 

In order to render the weapon more effective, it may be controlled 
over part of its course by means of an electric cable paid out from the 
torpedo as it progresses, and by which the current from a battery on 
any shore or on a ship is conveyed to the two magnets so as to steer it on 
a desired course. When the whole of the cable is paid out, it is auto- 
matically detached, and the self-steering apparatus comes into operation. 

The Lay Torpedo. — This well-known weapon is another example 
of the application of electricity to steering a torpedo. It is driven by 
other means, but lays out an insulated cable as it runs, and through 
this it is steered. It carries a very heavy charge, and it is usually run 
just on the surface. It has not made such rapid improvements as 
the "Whitehead in point of speed. The usual rods or lights are used 
for directing the torpedo, and very good practice is said to have been 
made by it. 

It has not been fortunate in war, for although there was a rumor 
that during the late war in South America a Chilian vessel was blown 
up by the Lay, I do not think that was the fact. There was an at- 
tempt to use it from a ship in the same war, but that method could 
hardly be expected to be successful. 

Discharging Fish Torpedoes. 

The simplest form is to ring an electric gong as a signal for the man 
standing by the torpedo to start it, for it must be understood that it is 
usually started from somewhere down below in a ship, and therefore it 
is necessary to have somebody up above to decide when it is to be sent 
on its journey. An improvement is, at the order " Ready," to full cock 
the discharging arrangement, the same movement connecting up an 
electric circuit which has only a break on deck, and which, when tra- 
versed by a current, puts in motion the machinery for discharging the 
torpedo. 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 401 

Another and greater improvement is the torpedo tube, being fitted on 
the inside with a cartridge, whicii, when ignited, projects the torpedo. 

The clutcli, wljich keeps the torpedo in the tube, is arranged in such 
a way that when withdrawn it makes electric contact witii an otherwise 
insulated binding screw on the rigiit of the gun. 

The torpedoes are arranged to be discharged by an officer who is in 
the pilot-tower. In this case the firing key is in the pilot-tower, be- 
tween the battery and the place of application, and there is a break at 
the tube, so that there are two breaks in the circuit ; when very nearly 
at the moment for firing, the word is passed down, when the lever is 
pulled by hand, freeing the torpedo and making contact at the o-un. 
The torpedo is then fired by pressing the key in the chart-house. 

The torpedo battery, which maybe considered as a part of a defense 
system, has been devised to defend any channel left in mines for the 
passage of friendly ships. 

It consists of a submarine framework, in which are fixed torpedo 
tubes, each holding a fish torpedo. 

The observing station, which may be distant and quite invisible to 
an enemy, is connected to the battery by a wire which goes to an elec- 
tric fuse. 

A weight released by the explosion opens the valve of the engines 
and frees the torpedo from the tube. 

Firing Submarine 3Iine8. 

Submarine mines are used by ships for the purpose of defendino- 
themselves, or any harbor in which they may be lying, or for the security 
of which they may be responsible, or for dropping behind them when 
retreating. They are charges of explosive, defensive and fixed, fired 
under water. 

The difference between torpedoes and mines is this: If you want 
to be blown up, you must go to the mine; but if you don't want to be 
blown up, you must stop the torpedo coming to you. 

The electrical methods of firing them are two: (1) firin<i- at will • 
(2) firing by contact. 

The observation method of firing at will may be briefly described 
as firing a submarine mine when the enemy is within ran^e of the 
effect of its explosion. 

There are two difficulties in carrying out this otherwise certain and 
simple plan. The enemy may not come within the range of the mine 
and when he does you may not know he is there. 

With the first difficulty we have nothing now to do. 
Vol. I.— No. 4. 2tt 



402 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTEELY. October 

The second must be considered, as on it depends the difference 
between the two electrical methods of firing mines. 

The simplest, and in its usual foriti, perhaps the worst plan, is by 
the method of cross bearings. 

To go back to our circuit. 

There is a generator in this case, a battery that is on shore. The 
main wire goes from the battery to No. 1 observer, from whom the 
mine bears, say south, that is, the mine is directly south of him, then 
jiasses through his key ; then goes to No. 2 observer, who has the mine, 
say, due east of him, and who also has a key. The main then goes on 
to a fuse in the mine, and the return takes the current back to the 
battery. 

A word about return wires : the resistance of a conductor depends, 
other things being equal, on its size; the earth being large does not 
offer much resistance, and is often used as a return M'ire. 

Now the circuit is not complete unless No. 1 and No. 2 both press 
their keys. A ship comes in. If ever she is south of No. 1 he presses 
his key. If ever she is east of No. 2 he presses his key; but the keys 
are never pressed together unless the ship is south of No. 1 and east of 
No. 2, that is, over the mine. 

This system has lately been well described by an eye-witness, and 
I dare say you will understand his description better than mine. 

"And now we are going to fire ' by observation.' There is a mine 
of eighteen pounds of gun-cotton down yonder, two feet under water, 
and that barrel there is an enemy's ironclad stean)ing up the harbor. 
But she may also run close by without actually touching it. This con- 
tingency has been provided for by putting the mine in electrical con- 
nection with two observing stations. Yonder is one perched up there 
some feet above the water. It is a wooden shed, constructed so as to 
be readily taken to pieces and put up again wherever it may be desired. 
In actual service, it would proljably be half buried in the ground, and 
the front of it protected or rather concealed by a bank of turf. There 
are two of these observing stations at different points of the compass, 
but both on the same electric circuit. The observers within them are 
keeping the object-glasses of a couple of small telescopes following the 
ship there as it approaches the mine. 

" These telescopes are so mounted, that until they both point ex- 
actly to the destructive area around the mine, the electric circuit by 
which it is to be automatically fired is incomplete. The enemy might 
pass too far from the explosive underneath the water to be much affected 
by it. In that case there would be no use in firing. The two tele- 



1885. ELECTRICITY AS APPLIED TO NAVAL PURPOSES. 403 

scopes looking from different points of view, would not at any instant 
converge their lines of sight at the mine, and there would always be a 
break in the circuit. The ship would go on her Avay. She is working 
straight for the mine, however. The gear of one telescope clicks into 
a sort of notch, and one break in the circuit is repaired. Ch'ck goes 
the other telescope. The circuit is complete; a tiny piece of platinum 
wire is instantly raised to a white heat inside the mine, and up goes 
the ship, a volume of water leaping into the air, some of it to the 
height of a church steeple, bearing with it fragments of the unlucky 
tub that has done duty for the foreign ironclad, which, under similar 
conditions, would not have gone up in the air probably, but would 
have had a hole knocked in her bottom which would speedily have 
sunk her." 

Other methods are the camera obscura ; the plane table by a tele- 
graph from the second station; firing all the mines in the neighbor- 
hood of the ship, so that one of them must hit her, and so on. 

The plane table is electrical. The telescope at one station works a 
ruler at the other, and when the observer finds this line and his cut 
over a mine, he fires. 

" Observation" firino; cannot be used at nijrht or in a foo;. 

The other system, that of contact mines, is different. To start 
from the battery, the circuit goes to a contact- key in the torpedo, and 
on to the fuse; when the torpedo is struck, then back by the return. 

A s\up must actually hit this mine to set it off. The ship in fact 
blows herself up. She may pass close to any number of mines, but 
only a small charge is required. 

The electrical disadvantage of this system is, that you cannot send 
a small current through for testing, unless a boat or a friendly ship 
bumps the mine for you. This has led to complicated additions. The 
simplest of these is a very high resistance which bridges over the break 
in the circuit, so you can always send a small testing current round 
the circuit ; but when the mine is struck, enough current will go through 
the fuse to fire it. 

The next addition was by means of a further appliance, so that the 
action of a ship striking the mine could be imitated. 

This has been arranged by causing the magnetic effect of the cur- 
rent passing through the high resistance to attract the other side of the 
break in the circuit, so as to cut the high resistance out. 

This is useful in two ways, — it gives a far more trustworthy test 
than a simple resistance, as it stands to reason that a delicate instru- 
ment which works all right in the mine shows no serious damage is 



404 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. OctolDer 

done to it; and again, it is possible by this means to fire a mine as well 
as by the contact of an enemy's ship. 

There is another means of testing an electric contact mine, viz., 
to have a telephone in the mine with a ball on the diaphragm, so that 
the motion of the mine in the water makes a noise in the telephone. 

Electro- mechanical mines are those which carry their own battery 
inside. This saves wire, but if the mines are picked up, is extrava- 
gant in boats and men's lives. 

In these mines means must be used to keep the mine safe while 
being laid down. This is effected in the simplest form by keeping 
the wires apart, and joining them at a safe distance when the mine is 
laid. 

The dynamiters imitated a very common form which works by 
means of some chemical action. They put acid on blotting-paper, 
and got away while the acid was eating through it. This mine was 
without a circuit-closer. 

These electro-mechanical mines were used for the defense of Suakim, 
and were very successful, or seemed so, for after the explosion of one 
mine, the night attacks, to guard against which they were laid, ceased 
for two months. 

The Torpedo Detector. 

This consists of a sinker, which is a heavy case, and a box, 
designed to be carried in a boat, from which the cable hangs. It can 
be so adjusted that no sound is heard in the receiver. If, now, the 
boat is pulled slowly through the water and the sinker is thus dragged 
along the bottom, no noise will be heard in the receiver unless the 
sinker comes into proximity with some mass of magnetic metal, such 
as a torpedo case. In this event, however, a humming noise will be 
heard in the receiver. 

A slight and imperfect sketch has now been given of the appliances 
which come under the heading of this paper, and I think you will 
agree with me that no trouble, no care, no money is wasted, which is 
spent in teaching our men to make a proper use of electricity, which 
as a servant has been aptly compared, for ability and docility, to the 
slave of the lamp, but which as a master is always mysterious and 
sometimes terrible. 



1886. 405 



THE FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR/ 

BY MAJOR GRAVES, TWENTIETH HUSSARS. 

Part II. 

(Concluded from page 344.) 

The points remaining for our consideration and discussion to-day are 
(1) Cavalry dismounted service; (2) Cavalry with an army in retreat; 
(3) Cavalry with an array in pursuit; and (4) some concluding re- 
marks on formation, armament, and education. 

First, then, with regard to cavalry dismounted service. A consider- 
able amount of controversy has been raised on this subject, owing in 
part to the ])rominence lately given to the question as to whether or 
not a force of mounted marksmen should be raised and maintained in 
this country. It has been suggested that owing to the shortcomings 
of the cavalry dismounted service, a certain portion of the cavalry 
should be organized as corps of mounted marksmen, who would 
combine the best qualities of good infantry and of good cavalry. 
The predominant feature in this force would naturally be that of 
infantry, owing to their being marksmen. 

Were this carried into effect it would reduce our cavalry proper by 
some two thousand men, all trained, and efficient with sword or lance 
and carbine. Further, it would take away from some twenty regiments 
something like twenty-five per cent, of their best men, and thus for a 
time render them inefficient in many respects; and to gain what? To 
gain what Jomini describes dragoons to be, " amphibious animals." 

I consider our cavalry force to be too few by some thousands now, 
and this would only add to a confessedly existing evil were we to still 
further reduce it. 

I consider that, owing to this numerical weakness from which we 
suffer, this is no time to attempt any such new experiment, which 
must be bought and paid for out of a very small and valuable capital, 
namely, our small force of cavalry. The interest on that capital is 
efficiency, and I think that this is no time to reduce that interest by 

> Read before the 'Royal United Service lastitution. 



406 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

adopting any such speculative scheme. We most likely, judging from 
the experience of the dragoons of by-gone days, should find our 
capital squandered, with the initial certainty of reducing the interest, 
as above, on some twenty regiments. 

Some cavalry officers have said to me, " Oh ! if you are going in 
for making our men fight on foot, they will lose their characteristics 
as cavalry," etc. But let us consider this. We have our cavalry 
trooper. He is a trained soldier; he is efficient as a horseman, at drill, 
M-ith the sword or lance, and has a fair idea as to what is required of 
him on outpost duty or reconnoissance. So far, good. We put into 
his hands a carbine, very effective up to fiive hundred and six hundred 
yards, and possibly up to one thousand. Will it mar his riding to 
encourage him to become a good shot? Will his becoming a good shot 
induce him to go to the left when he should go to the right? Will his 
liking for shooting, increased by efficiency, cause him to dismount with 
carbine when the " charge" is sounded ? Certainly not. Well then, 
having trained him as above, and having developed his shooting 
powers, we find him in a position where his horse and lance or sword 
are useless to him, but where a carbine is the one thing needful. 
Having his carbine, and being able to shoot, is there anything contrary 
to cavalry economy in placing him in the best available position to use 
it with effect, namely, on foot? I know nothing, provided always that 
his instruction is based on the principle that the functional expression 
of cavalry is in the main founded on the united action of man and 
horse, and that the function of dismounted service is demanded of him 
for the fulfillment of a special purpose which could not be carried out 
on horseback. I decline therefore to admit that shooting on foot 
converts a cavalry man into an infantry man, as strongly as I deny 
that an infantry man mounted is a cavalry man. The trooper dis- 
mounted is a cavalry man still, and finds himself in that position under 
exceptional circumstances, — to shoot. The infantry man mounted is 
still an infantry man, and finds himself in that position for a S|>ecial 
purpose, — to get to a certain place in much less time and with much 
less fatigue than if he went on foot. If we can train our mounted 
infantry up to a certain point of efficiency in outpost and reconnoissance 
work, I am sure that this efficiency would only add to their already 
proved usefulness. At the same time, I do not think it would be ad- 
visable to raise regiments or corps of mounted infantry; I think the 
necessities of the case would be met by having a certain number of 
men in each regiment taught to ride, and to do this I do not see why 
the depot at Canterbury could not be utilized by the addition of a few 



1885. FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR. 407 

horses and rough-riders; or wliy a riding depot could not be formed at 
Aldershot with a certain number of liorses and an instructing staff. 
The system of borrowing horses from cuvahy regiments is certainly 
most annoying to commanding officers; but this point will be urged 
later on. 

Part II., Section 23, of the cavalry regulations, is very clear and 
concise as to the object and rules to be kept in mind with reference to 
dismounted service, and alongside this section I would quote Von 
Schmidt; he says, "... The experience of the late campaign has 
proved irrefutably that it is indispensably necessary that cavalry 
should to a certain extent be able to fight on foot. ..." Again, "... 
Through its ability in this respect it will under all circumstances gain 
enormously in independence and self-confidence as well as usefulness." 
Again, " When owing to circumstances, ground, or to enemy's occupa- 
tion of localities and defiles, it is not possible for cavalry to attain its 
object on horseback; when it is very difficult to turn such places; ichen 
notldng can be hoped for from mounted action, and there is no infantry 
on the spot, nothing remains to cavalry but to dismount." " In acting 
thus we shall not become mere mounted infantry, which is the last thing 
we could wish to be ; we have no desire to fulfill the role of infantry. . . . 
In this way there will be an enormous development of that desire to 
take the initiative, that love of enterprise and longing for personal 
distinction which should animate us as cavalry soldiers, which alone 
we wish to be. 

" It is not our place to stand fast under fire in positions under 
cover; our object must be to apjjroach the enemy and dislodge him. To 
this end every cavalry soldier must be trained in the use of his carbine, 
and in fighting on foot in dispersed order ; taking the fullest advantage 
of the ground and the cover it affords. . . . The following then are 
the things most required of us: More thorough training in the use of 
the carbine than hitherto; for this duty has been very much put in 
the background, instead of being developed like every other one for 
the highest instruction of the men. . . ." " An increased expenditure 
of time over this duty is not necessary, provided that the musketry is 
thoroughly carried out with real interest and intelligence. . . ." " More 
extended instruction ... in taking full advantage of the accidents 
of ground." " We must make better use of peace time, and prepare 
oui-selves more thoroughly and systematiciilly." 

Speaking of the regulations of Frederick the Great, and his con- 
stant use of dismounteil cavalry, he says, " In this glurious period, 
however, cavalry lost nothing of its true spirit. They did not forget 



408 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

to cliarge with les armes blanches, although they bad much more 
fighting on foot than nowadays." 

May we not apply the greater part of this to ourselves? If all 
this is so necessary, and of such emphatic importance to the German 
cavalry, which outnumbers our own to an enormous extent, how much 
more important for us, the importance increasing iu proportion to the 
sraallness of our numbers? 

It would be needless to -quote the use made of dismounted service 
in the Franco-German war in detail, and I would simply refer to the 
valuable services of the mounted infantry in Africa and iu Egypt from 
tiie very first. The American war furnishes us with many instances 
of the value of dismounted service, whatever the value of those per- 
forming it in other directions. The battle of Five Forks is a notable 
example of what may be effected by efficient dismounted service, when 
Sheridan's dismounted men dealt with the Confederate right, while 
the Fifth Infantry Corps turned their left, and acting thus together 
caused a total loss to the enemy of some thirteen thousand men, and 
won a battle which decided the war. 

The action of Tamai affords an example in which cavalry is shown 
as coming up in the nick of time, dismounting, firing, and thus check- 
ing the enemy's advance, gave our infantry time to re-form. An eye- 
witness writes. in speaking of the temporary retreat of the left brigade : 
"We came back about eight hundred yards. . . . By this time the 
fire of the First Brigade, on our right as well as front, and the cavalry 
on our left, held the Arabs. ... It was some moments before the 
retreat could be checked, and then the check was in a great measure 
due to the action of the cavalry. When first the infantry were 
engaged, the cavalry withdrew to the rear, where they were hidden 
from the enemy by a fall in the ground. In the panic, the cavalry 
advanced at a trot, meaning to afford aid to the infantry by a charge. 
This happily was unnecessary. The enemy seeing a large body of 
cavalry bearing down upon them, hesitated ; this gave time to the 
soldiers to listen to their officers, and to re-form. . . . the rebels soon 
began to come on again. . . . Here again the cavalry did good service, 
some of the squadrons dismounting and firing volleys at the rebels 
who were collecting in the rear and on the flanks." These examples, 
and a multitude of others that might be brought forward, prove con- 
clusively the value of dismounted service. I am very glad that the 
question of the establishment of corps of mounted marksmen and the 
organization of mounted infantry has been raised, for I am confident 
that it will have the effect of indirectly increasing the efficiency of our 



1885. FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR. 409 

cavalry disraounted service, wliicli is the great desideratum, and also 
will give a stimulus to the training of at any rate a certain number of 
infantry in the use and care of the horse. 

The second point for consideration is the functions of cavalry in 
relation to an army in retreat. 

Jomini states, "Retreats arc certainly the most diflicult operations 
in war." He also says, " If the theory of war leaves any points un- 
provided for, that of retreats is certainly one of them." I will not 
therefore presume to enter into any theories as to the best methods of, 
times for, and order of retreats. It is sufficient to assume the fact of 
retreat of an army beaten in battle, but retreating in a fairly orderly 
manner, and that such retreat by an army of any magnitude should 
be conducted deliberately, "by short marches, with a well-arranged 
rear-guard of sufficient strength to hold the heads of the enemy's 
columns in check for several hours." The importance of keeping the 
touch between the various parts of the army retreating, and of the 
value of flankers, is shown by the mishaps that befell Xapoleon during 
his retreat from Smolinsk, when the corps of his army retreated on 
the same road, but divided by a day's march, and having no means of 
information in the shape of flankers, the enemy cut in between the 
parts of his army, to his great loss, during three days at Krasnoi. 
Inasmuch as the chief function of cavalry in 'pursuit is to turn defeat 
into rout, so the chief function of the cavalry of the rear-guard of a 
beaten army is in combination with the other arms to prevent the 
defeat they have suffered being turned into a rout, and to cover the 
retreat of the army, so that order may be restored and confidence 
regained, with a view to a fresh struggle on arrival at a position 
suitable for the purpose. 

A retreat under such circumstances is a very different matter from 
a movement to the rear of an army that has not been engaged, but is 
forced to move owing to the exigencies of supply, position, or political 
complications, etc. This is comparatively an easy matter; but, as Sir 
Edward Hamley says, " A beaten army is no longer in the hands of 
its general. It no longer responds to his appeal. The troops that 
have been driven from the field will be slow to form front for battle. 
Confusion, too, will be added to despondency, for regiments will be 
broken and mixed; artillery will be sej)arated from its ammunition; 
supply-trains will be thrown into disorder, and the whole machine will 
be for the time disjointed." ..." It is partly to provide for tiiis that 
generals usually keep part of their reserves out of action." And Lord 
Wolseley writes that the rear-guards " should be formed at least from 



410 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

the freshest troops ; their strength should be one-fourth to one-fifth of 
the whole force," so, I would add, as to put a screen of unbroken and 
fresh troops between the retreating and confused and their confident 
and pursuing enemy. With regard to the duties of such a rear-guard 
the same writer states, " The great art of rear-guards is that of being 
able constantly, without risk and with very little trouble, to force the 
enemy to deploy for attack, and then to get safely away yourself with- 
out any serious fighting; in other words, the rear-guard should, by 
frequent occupation of strong positions, be continuously threatening to 
fight, as it is by so doing that it best fulfills its purpose." Jomini lays 
down that " it is generally sufficient if the rear-guard keep the enemy 
at a distance of half a day's march from the main body." 

Now, owing to the important issues depending on the right perform- 
ance of the duties of thus screening a retreating army ; to the intimate 
interdependence of the three arms upon one another in this work ; to 
the constant necessity for showing a front, and in so doing the constant 
necessity for screening, covering, and supporting each other by the 
three arms, how absolutely necessary it is for the leader of the cavalry 
to know something of the functions and capabilities of the otiier arms, 
and to have a well-formed idea of what should be done, and how to 
doit! 

He and his troops maintaining a position nearest the enemy (except 
at the actual moment of passing through a defile, when the infantry 
would remain in most instances in rear to cover their retreat by fire, 
the artillery having passed over first), should be animated with such 
a sense of responsibility for the safety of the army as to be willing to 
sacrifice themselves for the safety of that army and the honor of their 
country ; he should be ever watchful to seize and hold with dismounted 
men such points and positions as will force the pursuers to deploy, 
and advance to the attack, at the same time showing necessary vigilance 
towards the flanks and any parallel roads thereon, so as by a good 
system of flanking patrols he may prevent the enemy outmarching 
him and cutting him and the remainder of rear-guard off from the 
main body. A knowledge of demolitions would here be useful in the 
destruction of bridges, in the obstruction of deep cuttings by cutting 
or blowing down trees, etc. 

I will here mention as very useful for examinations in tactics, the 
lectures by Major Dyke, the garrison instructor, Eastern District. In 
that on rear-guards he states, " Military history abounds with instances 
of victories more or less thrown away owing to feeble pursuit, . . . 
in fact, vigorous immediate pursuit is rather the exception than other- 



1885. FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR. 411 

wise." He instances that after the battle of Weissenburg, "on the 
evening of 4th August all contact with the foe was lost." Again, after 
Worth, "the pursuit instituted by the cavalry was discontinued at the 
entrance to the difficult mountain psLSses, and thus all contact with the 
enemy had ceased to exist." In like manner, after Spicheren, night set 
in and the ground was unfavorable, and so pursuit ceased. Therefore 
the cavalry leader with the rear-guard of a retreating beaten army 
should be self-reliant and resourceful; should be bold yet cautious; 
and should do his utmost to wear out the patience of his pursuers, 
while carefully nursing his own force. 

We now come to the functions of cavalry with an army in pur- 
suit. We must remember that a most important element in the 
value of a victory is that the results should be brought to hand and 
made the most of. To this end a vigorous but not reckless pursuit is 
essential. 

Where the victory has been decisive, the cavalry should be, if 
possible, pushed forward at once to prevent a rear-guard being formed, 
and to harass and rout the mixed crowds now in full retreat, to over- 
take them and hang on to them until they have thrown down their 
arms, and have practically dispersed. Should a rear-guard have been 
formed, the pursuing cavalry should keep the touch of it continually; 
when it presents a front, it should be thus held as long as possible, 
while a turning movement is attempted with a view to cutting it off. 
Its flanks should be continually threatened with this object in view. 
One of the best examples of such a pursuit is that afforded by Sheri- 
dan's pursuit of General Lee after the battle of Five Forks. Denison 
gives an excellent account of it. The pursuit lasted from the morning 
of April 3 until the whole of Lee's army surrendered at Appomattox 
Court-House on the 9th. The chief point of interest is to be found 
in the turning movement made between Dratonsville and Sailor's Creek. 
Lee's rear-guard turned there and stooil firm, some ten thousand strong. 
Sheridan iield them in front while he sent forward the leading division 
of his cavalry, who dismounting on their flank harassed and checked 
their supply-train and escort. Whilst this was going on, three other 
divisions passed along the rear of the dismountetl men, crossed Siiilor's 
Creek before Lee's rear-guard, took up a position on the high ground 
on the far side, and dismounting placed themselves across the path of 
the rear-guard, whom they received with such a murderous fire from 
their long-range repeating rifles that the result was that they captured 
six thousand prisoners, sixteen guns, and four hundred wagons. The 



412 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

same system of tactics brought about the surrender of the whole army 
as above. 

History affords us but few such examples on this point. The 
Prussian pursuit after Waterloo was first-rate ; and earlier the French 
pursuit of the Prussians after Jena was another noteworthy instance 
of the results of victory made good by a really vigorous pursuit. 

I would close this part of the subject by referring to two other cases 
of such pursuits which stand out in bold relief. First: After the 
great battle of Arbela, Alexander with his cavalry pursued Darius. 
After leaving the battle-field he crossed the river Lycus, halted there 
to refresh men and horses until midnight, again started in pursuit, and 
reached Arbela the next day, distance seventy miles. Darius had gone 
on. Alexander followed him, until after three days and nights his 
infantry could no longer keep up ; but knowing that Darius was bound 
to fight, he dismounted five hundred cavalry, and put on their horses 
five hundred of his best infantry, pushed on all night, and came up 
with the Persians in the morning, and routed them at once, whilst 
Bessus, having murdered Darius, escaped with only six hundred horse. 
The fruits of victory were not only gathered in by this splendid exploit, 
but the fate of one empire was sealed, and the position of the other 
made sure. 

The second and last instance I would refer to is, of course, the 
pursuit after Tel-el-Kebir, and the marches on Zagazig and Cairo. 
The whole of the cavalry and mounted infantry was on the right, 
under Sir Drury Lowe; and while the infantry were assaulting the 
position, they made a turning movement against the enemy's left, and, 
working round, cut into the stream of Egyptian fugitives, causing 
them great loss. I understand that the Fourth Dragoon Guards and 
the Bengal Lancers reached the railway and canal in rear of the 
Egyptian position at 7.30 A.M. ; they proceeded along the canal to the 
lock, and one Indian regiment struck off at once to Zagazig, where it 
arrived at about 4 p.m. the same day ; and another Bengal regiment 
went on at once to Belbeis, followed sliortly afterwards by mounted 
infantry, and later still by the Fourth Dragoon Guards. They 
bivouacked there that night, and starting again next morning about 
4.30, reached Cairo about sunset, to find that the tidings of the victory 
had preceded them, and that their arrival so soon after had produced 
such an effect that the governor with a garrison of some ten thousand 
men surrendered to a handful of jaded and weary heroes, who would 
have found it almost impossible to have urged their horses into a gallop. 
Such is the force of moral effect when applied at the fitting opportunity. 



1885. FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR. 413 

The result of tliis victory, the fiirtlier result of this close-followiug 
pursuit and march, so well conceived, so ably carried out, was that the 
enemy collapsed and the war was finished. 

We have now concluded the consideration of what I must admit is 
a very imperfect consideration, as far as I am concerned in its setting 
forth, of the "Functions of Cavalry in Modern War." 

Before, however, entering on the discussion, we might do well, I 
think, to look around and see what we can learn from our neighbors. 

And first, as to the question of armament. As we are armed at 
present, our dragoons and hussars carry sword and carbine, and our 
lancers carry the lance in addition. Some of our Indian regiments 
have lance and sword in the front rank, and sword and carbine in the 
rear rank ; officers, some non-commissioned officers, and trumpeters, 
carry sword and revolver. 

In 1878 I was permitted to give a lecture in this theatre, which 
M'as published in pamphlet form, on " Military Equipment," and in it 
I advocated the plan of arming front ranks with lance and revolver, 
and the rear ranks with sword and carbine. I still believe that 
principle to be correct, but I fear that it would not be workable in our 
service, and I know that the general feeling is against it. 

Nolan says, "All seem to forget that a lance is useless in a melee" 
as was demonstrated at Aliwal. Marshal Marmont says, " It would 
be better for cavalry to have both the lance and sabre, . . . the lance 
should be the principal weapon, the sabre an auxiliary arm." Jomini 
says, " In charges in line the lance is very useful ; in melees the sabre 
is much better." De Brack also affirms this. I think therefore that 
the principle would find effectual practical expression if it were recog- 
nized as the general rule to support lancers with dragoons or hussars. 
We should then avoid such disasters as Aliwal, and should be in a fair 
way to realize the benefits obtained by this method at Meangunge. 
Touching the revolver. In November, 1864, a fight took place in 
Virginia between a squadron of Federal cavalry armed with the sabre, 
and a squadron of Mosby's armed with the revolver. The loss to the 
latter was one man killed and several wounded, and the loss to the 
Federals was twenty-four men killed, twelve wounded, and sixty-two 
prisoners; thirty-six killed and wounded out of one hundred. On 
another occasion, under similar circumstances, the sabres lost twenty- 
six killed and wounded, fifty-four prisoners, and eighty horses; the 
Confederates, who were armed with the revolver, lod not a single man. 
As before said, we only put revolvers into the hands of our officers, 



414 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUAETERLY. October 

some non-commissioued officers, and the trumpeters; what is the state 
of things in Continental armies on this point? 

I am indebted to the courtesy of an Italian staff officer, and to the 
military attaches of Austria, France, Germany, and Russia, at our 
court, for full information on this head. 

The Italian officer informs me that up to two years ago their lancers 
had lance, sword, and revolver all through ; now they have copied us, 
and have armed them with lance, sword, and carbine, — the revolver 
being distributed throughout their cavalry as with us exactly. 

In the Austrian army, the lancers have front rank lances and re- 
volvers, the rear rank carbines, all other cavalry twenty-eight revolvers 
per squadron. 

In the French army, the whole of the cuirassiers have the revolver. 
The letter I received dated the 4th of June last states, "d'une maniere 
g^nerale'^ every man in the army who has not a gun has a revolver. 
Infantry, ordnance, and also in horse artillery, gunners and drivers, 
who have no carbine, have revolvers. 

Lord Wolseley, who was in the chair on the occasion of my lecture, 
said on this point, "The next point is about revolvers; a good deal 
has been said upon that subject, and I fully concur in the remarks 
which have been made. I certainly agree with reference to the advisa- 
bility of giving the revolver to artillerymen. At the present moment 
an artilleryman is really in a most defenseless condition: for if his 
battery is charged, unless he uses his handspike, he has actually 
nothing to defend himself with. Every gunner should be furnished tvith 
a good 7'evolver." I say the same ; but I am not sure that I should 
give one to the driver, who would in most cases have enough to do in 
looking after his horses. 

In the German army, the whole of the Prussian cuirassiers are 
armed with the revolver, and the corresponding heavy regiments of 
the other German states. In the other regiments, all officers and non- 
commissioned officers are thus armed. 

The Russian military attache in London writes me : " Cuirassiers 
and lancers have, in their front ranks lances, swords, and revolvers 
(six chambers); the rear rank of the cuirassiers carries sword and 
revolver; the rear rank of the lancers sabre and rifle." Now are 
America, Austria, France, Germany, and Russia all wrong in this 
matter? I do not invite discussion on my theory in this question; I 
respectfully invite discussion on the actual practice of these nations. 
Will wisdom die with us in this matter? No; but it looks as if our 
men without revolvers will die for want of wisdom. Let us look this 



1885. FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR. 415 

matter fairly in tlie face. The weakest moment of cavalry, however 
armed, is immediately or shortly after the shock. But suppose one of 
our lancer regiments has charged a lancer regiment carrying six- 
barreled revolvers ; in face of and compared with the revolver not 
only ill posse but in esse, does not our weakness become weaker, and 
compared with our weakness, does not their weakness become strength ? 
I would simply refer again to the two instances quoted from the 
Amei'ican war, adding that they might be indefinitely multij)lied. 

I have been asked to touch upon the question of the use of machine- 
guns in relation to cavalry. I see Lord Charles Beresford has quoted 
the opinions of several officers of the different branches of the ser- 
vice. 

The opinion of a colonel commanding an infantry regiment is, 
"To me it apj)ears as if cavalry is the arm which will profit most by 
the introduction of machine-guns." He states, " It has practically 
always with it one hundred and fifty infantry, . . . and not a single 
man has to dismoiait." If this be so, then we should return our car- 
bines into store and abolish musketry instruction. A colonel of 
artillery states, "A machine-gun to be of any use for this purpose 
must be able to manoeuvre at the same pace as the battery which it 
sui)ports." If this be so, it is a necessary sequence that it should also 
manoeuvre at the same j)ace as the cavalry regiment to which it is 
proposed to attach two machine-guns permanently. Is this generally 
possible? Who is to command the battery of two guns? an artillery 
officer or a cavalry officer? In what relation is the officer commanding 
the cavalry regiment to stand towards the guns? I humbly think he 
will find plenty to do in giving practical expression to the functions of 
Ids cavalry proper. The same officer says further, "For horse and 
field-batteries the problem is more difficult. No carriage with small 
wheels can be relied on for transport purposes. . . . How can you 
transport them (machine-guns) so as to be suitable for rapid movements 
under service conditions?" H this proI)lem is difficult of solution in 
relation to field artillery, it is more so in relation to cavalry. 

A colonel of engineers says, "I cannot conceive their being per- 
manently attached to cavalry or artillery without constantly hampering 
them, as it would only be on rare occasions they would be required." 
I quite coincide with this view so far as luy present limited knowledge 
of the subject permits me to form a judgment. 

As our pace is regulated by the capabilities of the slowest, I fear 
the machine-guns would be found a very slow horse. In any case, I 
think, as at present advised, their best place is with the horse artillery 



416 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

attached to the cavalry brigade, in which position they would, as oc- 
casions arise, render most valuable moral and actual help. 

I trust a few remarks upon our tactical and administrative units 
and formation will not be considered out of place here. I am not a 
worshiper of everything foreign that differs from our own usage ; but 
I confess I think we can learn something from the Germans here. 
We have four squadrons per regiment, and only three majors, the 
infantry having four. (I cannot see the justice of this, taking into 
account the interests of the senior captain of cavalry.) Owing to 
our squadrons being divided into two troops only, as compared with 
the four Zugs of the German, we lose the services of some officers from 
leading, they being relegated to the serre-file rank. I should like to 
see the tactical and administrative units reduced to the same denomina- 
tion, the squadron, commanded by a major, with one captain and two 
subalterns under him. I should like to see the guide done away with, 
and the squadron divided into three divisions, the centre one under 
command of the captain, and the others led and commanded by the 
subalterns. The difference in handiness and mobility between three 
such divisions and two troops up to war strength should be obvious. 

I have had to do with the instruction of a regiment composed of 
five squadrons of close on one hundred of all ranks in each, and can 
quite enter into the advantage it would be to have squadrons of three 
Zugs in each of some, sixteen front rank. We should gain in mobility 
and in the development of the powers of the younger officers. 

It is in no spirit of carping criticism that I venture to suggest 
that the method adopted in the instruction of junior officers on joining 
is in very many cases very unsatisfactory, and does not attain the object 
which should be kept in mind by those who carry out their instruction. 
An officer is posted to a regiment, and finds himself on the ^barrack 
square among the recruits ; he goes through the course of drill from 
the goose step up, together with the sword or lance and carbine drill, 
etc. ; and as soon as he can perform these fairly well he is " dismissed." 
The same obtains with reference to his riding and musketry. Seldom 
indeed is any aceount taken of his ability to impart to others that which 
he has learned. As for meat, bread, hay, straw, and oats, he is supposed 
to know all about their quality, etc., by inspiration. 

Surely this is not as it should be. No wonder then that many of 
these duties are irksome, and therefore improperly performed in many 
cases. No man can take a real pleasure or intelligent interest in doing, 
or attempting to do, that which, from ignorance and want of instruc- 
tion, he can do only in a consciously imperfect manner. 



1885. FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR. 417 

We have at Aldershot a school for auxiliary cavalry, which, if 
developed, would prove of much more general use than at present. 
This school has to borrow from the cavalry regiments some twenty to 
twenty-five horses during certain periods of the instruction carried on 
there. 

This is obviously a great tax upon the patience of the officers 
commanding the regiments thus depleted j)7"o tem. They have also to 
lend a certain number of men who are required for foot-drill instruc- 
tion, and who draw working pay for this duty. Now if this school 
were enlarged and had a riding-master (who would act as adjutant as 
well) attached, a couple of rough riders, forty horses (sound, but cast 
from regiments on account of age), and a deputy commandant, I think 
we could solve the difficulty of instructing the officers and staff ser- 
geants of auxiliary cavalry, and teaching a certain number of infantry 
how to ride and groom their horses, besides affiirding young cavalry 
officers facilities for going through a course which, from personal ex- 
perience, I can vouch would be very helpful to them in the matter of 
imparting instruction, — a point becoming of greatly increased import- 
ance under the new regulations for squadron instruction by officers. 
It might be replied that such an institution could not cover so much 
ground at one time. It would not be at all necessary, because there 
are certain months in the year during which it would be most unwise 
to press the attendance of auxiliary cavalry officers. This also holds 
good with reference to the sergeants of the permanent staff. Some of 
these very months fall at a time when it would be most convenient for 
infantry men to be attached for a course of riding, etc., namely, the 
furlough season, months when there is little done in the way of field 
days. 

If the infantry are attached by twos and threes to cavalry regi- 
ments, they must necessarily fall to a greater or less extent into 
cavalry ways and ideas; but drilled together and working and living 
together as usual at such an establishment, the infantry spirit would 
be kept up. 

Again, the troopers permanently posted from the cavalry with the 
liorses would no doubt be men who have re-engaged for twenty-one 
years, and they would be available both for mounted and dismounted 
instruction drills. This method adopted, we should gain the advantage 
of one system of instruction for mounted infantry and the junior 
officers, as well as the auxiliary cavalry, and at a very small cost. 

I cannot help thinking that our methods of instructing young 
officers are too cramped and too much confined to the subjective. It 
Vol. I.— No. 4. 27 



418 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

is very necessary under existing methods of war to obtain clear views 
as to the best way of acting and manceiivring in combination witli the 
other arras. I need not say how little opportunity is afforded junior 
officers for this, except what they can pick up out of books or from the 
war game. This does not sufficiently train the eye to grasp the general 
idea of movements being executed by other arms of the service than 
our own. Would it not be a good way of spending a forenoon upon 
which there is no parade or other duty such as courts-martial, boards, 
etc., for a major to ride out with his squadron officers and watch the 
drill of an infantry regiment, or when possible a brigade, not to see 
how they worked so much as to discuss together the best means of sup- 
porting their advances or retirements, their various manoeuvres and 
attack ? As the movements are being executed, to guess their purport, 
and to suggest the best means of screening their movements from a 
supposed enemy, taking the character and features of the ground into 
consideration. To watch the movements of artillery in the same way, 
and to prospect the best methods and places for escorting and support- 
ing them; then to get a distance from them and discuss the most 
favorable opportunities, means and direction for attacking them, taking 
into account the features of ground and the position of supposed 
support. 

Colonel Chapman, military secretary to the commander-in-chief in 
India, delivered a lecture at the United Service Institution of India 
last May, his subject being "The Last Autumn Manoeuvres of the 
German Array." He drew attention to the complete separation of the 
several arms of the service, and how they manoeuvred in utter inde- 
pendence of each other. He says, " The cavalry acting under its own 
leader sought more to extend itself in isolated attacks on the enemy's 
cavalry, and instances of its dismounting and holding positions until 
the infantry came up were never noticed." Touching artillery he says, 
" Apparently there were no artillery tactics at all, and officers brought 
their batteries into action and opened fire without any study of the 
ground, and any particular object save that of firing upon the enemy.'' 
Cavalry did not care for the artillery, and the artillery and infantry 
did not work for each other. 

I cannot understand the principle underlying the spirit of parsi- 
mony in a certain direction which limits the opportunities for the 
instruction of all ranks, from generals down, by means of autumn 
manoeuvres. It is a principle of penny wise in times of peace, but 
must be pound and many pounds foolish in war. But then those who 
exercise this principle do not go to war; they stay at home and fight 



1885. FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR. 419 

with the screw instead of the sword, drive their non-combatant teams 
with the quill, and harness them with red tape ; and then when any- 
thing breaks down, throw themselves heartily into the, to tiicm, con- 
genial recreation of hunting the scapegoat. 

A few words as to the rank and file of our cavalry service. I think 
it is a matter of sincere and unmixed congratulation that the reports 
from the various recruiting districts as to the class of men joining the 
cavalry were such, that the inspector-general of recruiting was able 
to state in his last annual return that they were without exception 
satisfactory. On reading this I immediately began to look up the 
question of education in this connection, and I am deeply indebted to 
the kindness and courtesy of General Sir Beauchamp Walker, to whom 
this Institution and the army at large owes so much in this matter, for 
information on this head, as also to Colonel Orr of the same depart- 
ment for the following tables, which show that the rate of progress in 
general education among the rank and file of our cavalry is an 
encouraging feature in our condition. 

Percentage of Men [Non- Commissioned Officers and Men) in possession of Certificatea 

of Education. 

1873. I 1881. 

1st class 0.75 1st class 1.0 

2d " 8 3 2d " 15.31 

3d " 11.35 3d " 12.94 

4th " 9.3 I 4th " 30.89 

Not certificated 70.30 Not certificated 40.37 

The summary of appendix to General Order 121, 1st September, 
1883, shows that in branches of the service of a strength of over one 
thousand the percentage of passes is as follows : 

1. Foot Guards 97.72 I 4. Royal Engineers 00.60 

2. Cavalry 91.48 | 5. Infantry (line) 89.33 

3. Commissariat and Transport . 90.99 | 6. Koyal Artillery 87.65 

The latter table places cavalry very high on the list in the matter 
of pa&ses gained ; the former proves that there is an eminently satis- 
factory rate of progress in mental capacity and intellectual culture; 
and in face of this growth of capacity and culture obtaining among 
the rank and file of our cavalry service, one hears with apprehension 
of the great difficulty met with in obtaining recruit officei-s for the 
cavalry; of special facilities being ottered to candidates willing to 
accept commissions in the cavalry; of the necessity of modifying the 



420 THE AEMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

terms of admission from being absolutely competitive to competitive 
combined with qualification. I welcome the modification, while I am 
bound to regret the necessity for it ; but the necessity having arisen, 
I think the authorities are bound to grant us larger opportunities for 
instruction in those duties which lead us into combination with the 
other arms. As the hearing of the ear may bring the foot into 
readiness to move; as the seeing of the eye reveals the direction for 
the blow of the hand ; as the foot may not say to the ear, " I have no 
need of thee;" and the hand without the guiding eye would strike 
wide of the mark, so cavalry, artillery, and infantry should have 
ample opportunities granted them of cultivating those inter-relations, 
for exercising those characteristic and individual functions which, 
carried out in union, weld eye, ear, hand, foot, and body into one 
corporate entity, form one harmonious whole, complete and perfect in 
all its parts. 

To conclude, what does this marked intellectual and educational 
advance exhibited among the rank and file of our cavalry service 
demand of us regimental officers? It demands that which I humbly 
believe we, as a body, are seeking and striving after as never before, 
namely, a proportionate increase of capacity and knowledge for ourselves. 
We, who most of all exercise a direct personal influence on our men, 
should see to it that that influence is exercised for good ; that we set 
them an example of diligent application, of scrupulous conscientious- 
ness in the performance of our duty; that no detail of that duty is too 
petty or insignificant to be done carefully and well. Duty thus done 
becomes a pleasure; but duty done in a half-hearted and grudging 
spirit, as if it were a bore, makes that duty in time a bondage, and 
begets a spirit that soon infects those under our immediate influence to 
their grievous harm. On the other hand, as I trust will be admitted, 
the " Functions of Cavalry in Modern War" demand of officer and 
man increasing intelligence, self-reliance, and resource, increasing 
knowledge and efficiency for their effectual expression in action ; thus 
that increasing knowledge, that resulting efficiency will necessarily add 
an unconscious dignity to the character and bearing of the individual, 
and will make him a valuable entity in that branch of our queen's 
service to which I deem it a high honor to belong. 

List of Works likely to be Useful in the Study of Tactics. 

General. 
Hamley, Art of War. 
Tactique des Trois Armes, Mazel. 



1885. FUNCTIONS OF CAVALRY IN MODERN WAR. 421 

Jomini. 

Denison's History. 

Clery, Minor Tactics. 

Tactique de Combat, Brialraont. 

Home. 

Trait6 d'Art Militaire, Perizonius. 

Modern Tactics (Wilkinson and Shaw). 

Lectures, Dyke. 

Cavah'y. 

Cavalry Regulations. 

Von Schmidt, Instructions (for detailed instructions). 

Conduct of a Contact Squadron, Bell. 

Verdy du Vernois, Troop Leading. 

Catechisms (Cavalry Regulations), Colonel B. Bell. 

Artillery. 

Field Artillery, Pratt, 1883. 
Tactique de I'Artillerie, Von Schell. 
Defense and Attack of Positions, Scliaw. 

Infantry. 
Field Exercise Book. 



422 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 



THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

BY J. WATTS DE PEYSTER, BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL S.N.Y. 

" The History of Gustavus Adolphus," by Walter Harte, Stockdale's (the 
Third) Edition, London, 1807; "The History of Gustavus Adolphus," by B. 
Chapman, Vicar of Letherhead, London, 1856; " Gustaf Adolph, Kdnig von 
Schweden, und Seine Zeit," by A. F. Gfrorer, Dr. Onn Klopp's (the Fourth 
Edition), Stuttgart, 1863; "The History of Gustavus Adolphus," by John L. 
Stevens, recently United States Minister at Stockholm, New York and London, 
1884 ; Geijer's " History of the Swedes" (comprising the first three volumes of the 
original down to the end of Christina's administration), translated by J. H. Turner, 
London, 1832 to 1836 ; " The Civil and Military History of Germany from the 
Landing of Gustavus to the Conclusion of the Treaty of Westphalia" (in reality 
of the whole Thirty Years' War), in three volumes or parts, by Frances Hare 
Naylor, London, 1816; "Geschichte des deutschen Reiches unter der Regierung 
Ferdinand III.," by M. Kock, Wien ; " Eulogy of Leonard Torstenson, by H. E. M. 
Gustavus III.," Stockholm, 1787; "The Lives of the Warriors," by General the 
Hon. Sir Edward Cust, B. A., London, 1865-67 ; and at least two hundred other works 
or volumes in Latin, French, German, and English in the possession of the author. 

The following article is intended as a Review, but to partake at 
the same time of the nature of an Essay. The number of works of 
more or less value in regard to Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty- 
Years' War is very great; but in spite of the prominent names which 
appear as authors or inspirers, both the biography of Gustavus and 
the history of the Thirty Years' War has even yet to be written. 
From all the lives of the great king Ave do not learn the whole truth 
in regard to him. In some respects he is more a myth than the Wash- 
ington of Weems. He was not a saint in the ideal sense of the word, 
but he was a man, and his motives, while they were subordinated to 
religious principle, were tinctured with selfishness and founded on 
policy. A successful leading politician in this country is said to have 
remarked that in a very large city he had found that virtue had a 
number of representatives, and vice had none ; that he would unite 
the suffrages of vice on himself. He did so, was elected again and 
again, until all the virtues marshaled their champions under one leader, 
and then, and not until then, was he defeated. Again, it was said in an 
army that a number of especial classes rejoiced in more or less dis- 
tinctive representatives, but that religion had none, and that whoever 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 423 

trained under that flag would succeed, A standard-bearer offered him- 
self and did so. Thus it is: policy and interest walk hand in hand, 
and, as Lear said, the godlike and the devilish divide the empire of 
the mici'ocosm, man. 

Although Harte devoted heart and soul to his work on Gustavus, 
and accumulated an immense amount of information in regard to the 
king and the war under consideration, it is by no means satisfying any 
more than the most recent biography of Stevens, who from his position 
enjoyed advantages such as very few men in writing up a subject have 
possessed. The fact is that until the manuscri])t treasures at Sko- 
kloster are carefully arranged and indexed and published somewhat 
like our " Official Records," — " War of the Rebellion," — and are trans- 
lated into a language familiar to the majority of iiistorians, there is no 
use of expecting a true picture of the exterior actions and interior 
motives of this momentous period, or a clear revelation of the charac- 
ters of the chief actors. As yet most writers have followed each other 
in the same rut. It is said that the two sides of the face of Gustavus 
III. were so dissimilar that a profile portrait from the left would 
never have been recognized as a likeness of the same person when 
painted from the right. Just so in regard to the prominent characters 
in the greatest religious war that was ever fought out between modern 
titular Christians. Nor are students anxious to arrive at the truth, 
more capable of doing so from pen-portraits than they are of judging 
of the real characters of the Joabs, Ahithophels, and Davids of the 
period from their actual portraits. Lying before me is Salmzon's ex- 
quisite series of likenesses of the leading men of the Thirty Years' 
War, published at Stockholm, within about thirty or forty years. 
Some of the finest faces belong to the weakest men, and to any but 
adepts in physiognomy the strongest men are by no means character- 
ized by general features indicative of their strength. One man who 
looked what lie was, " with a mind steeped in beer," was John George, 
Elector of Saxony. To a woman's fancy Gallas would certainly prove 
attractive. Bauer has traits which recidl those of Richelieu and 
Mazarin. Piccolomini shows himself completely: a bad, bold, Italian 
of the worst tyj)e. Horn, who liad the character of being so hunuuie 
that he disarmed war of its worst horrors, has a very harsh face; and 
Konigsmark, whom the French represent as positively ugly, because 
lie saw through their tricks, and would not submit to their imperious- 
ness, has a portrait handsome enough to justify what they said of him, 
that he was a "woman's man," as well, as he really was a most enter- 
prising soldier and sjigjicious leader. The finest head, however. 



424 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

grander even than that of Gustavus and Ban^r, who is said to have re- 
sembled his master closely, is that of Leonard Torstenson, — whose name, 
translated, signifies the Lion, strong, son of the (memorial) stone (or 
j3illar) of the Thunder God (Thor), — in its blended grandeur of un- 
mistakable goodness and greatness. 

If called upon to recommend the best work in every respect for the 
period from the beginning of the war to the death of Gustavus, I 
should select, for whomsoever can read German, Gfrorer ; as a general 
history, Nay lor ; as a military essay, Gust's " Lives of the Warriors ;" 
and for the political or civil aspects, Gindely. For military details the 
last is almost worthless, and, as before remarked, there has not, as yet, 
been a real military history published. In his " Geschichte des Kriegs- 
wesens," von Brandt has furnished some exquisite episodes replete with 
the most valuable information ; and Feil, in his " Die Schweden in 
Oesterreich," has presented facts, in detail, in regard to military 
operations within the Imperial Hereditary States in 1645 and 1646 
which are astonishing in their revelations. Although I say it myself, 
and it may sound like egotism, I have never seen a book which contains 
such a mass of information (however undigested and shapelessly thrown 
together) as my life of Torstenson, which cost many years of the 
hardest labor and a large amount of money, willingly expended to 
obtain every authority accessible in any language open to me. 

" Few modern nations can vie with the Swedes as historians ; . . . 
in Sweden history don't stand on her dignity, pared down to barren 
facts, but is alike simple and amusing" [witness the series of historical 
novels of Topelius. Lagerbring in this respect resembles Topelius.] 
" Geyer [or Geijer], a greater genius far, ... is the driest of the series. 
"When selected by [his] government to write the History of Sweden," 
he recommended Afzelius as the best calculated to weave in interesting 
anecdotes and legends necessary to the full understanding of the matter. 
Fryxell is "quaint and legendary till the death of Erik XIV., when his 
style changes." Lastly we have Stjernholm, — " most painstaking writer 
of the century," of " unwearied industry." He can scarcely live, with 
his details, to bring his work down further than the rise of the Vasa 
dynasty, — all that is of interest to any but his own countrymen. 

By the way as a parenthesis, there is a curious fact connected with 
Ten Broek's translation of Gindely 's history, published by Putnam's 
Sons, which I once reviewed in The United Service. In his note 
to page 288, vol. ii., he alludes to the following passage in Gindely: 
" Fiir die unterhaltung der Reichs-armee wurden 120 Il5mer-monate 
bewilligt." Ten Broek observes, "This is the only passage of the 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 425 

work thus far the application of which I have not supposed that I 
understood." He translates it, "For the maintenance of the imperial 
army, 120 Roman months were granted." The real signification is that 
the Diet voted a contribution from the States of the Roman Emj)ire 
(for which they were bound in carrying on a coramon war), equivalent 
to the aggregate of 120 monthly allowances, or six-tenths of the 
extreme amount for which they could be held liable, or the utmost ever 
granted, — i.e., 200. " Momei'-monate," is a technical term. 

With these j)reliminary remarks what follows is a crystallized or 
perhaps, more properly speaking, a digested presentation or review of 
what occurred after Gustavus Adolphus, for astutely political and 
strictly military as well as actual religious motives, determined to take 
part in the great German war. " The pear had been maturing for 
years; it was now ripe and ready to fall ;" the slightest breeze awakened 
by the jien or the sword was alone necessary to break it oif. The 
Siege of Stralsund by Wallenstein j)recipitated events. The " pear" 
fell ! Gustavus landed in Pomerania. It was the real beginning of 
the great end. 

H. R. M. Oscar II. delivered an Address on the one hundred and 
fiftieth anniversary of the death of Charles XII., which proves that, in 
these times, kings are better educated and as intellectually able as any 
other class. He shows that however brilliant was the career of Charles, 
it was fatal to his country, but not fatal because Charles was " a mad- 
man," as he is generally styled, but because such a hero, king, soldier, 
and general, needed a kingdom more commensurate with his own great- 
ness than Sweden. 

Gustavus III., another king of Sweden, in a note to his Eulogy of 
Leonard Torstenson, written in 1787, makes a remark which shows 
that the Swedes were not always unanimous as to the })ermanent ad- 
vant;ige of the military triumphs of Gustavus Adolphus, although the 
injm'ious effects were remote not immediate, as in the case of Charles 
XII.: " There wils a time when, owing to particular reasons and pur- 
poses, it was attempted to dispute the great services Gustavus Adolphus 
rendered to the realm. It was insisted upon that his glorious reign was 
more brilliant than advantageous to the kingdom ; that it contribtUed 
more to the nation s honor than to its happiness." 

Horace Marryatt, in his " One Year in Sweden," reads to the point 
in this connection: "That contest lasted thirty years, though it de- 
stroyed the power of Romanism in the German Empire, — half i-uined 
Sweden ;" after Charles XII., " the curse and glory of Sweden," " A 
RUINED COUNTRY." 



426 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

In both cases it was like an individual of great vitality and strength 
of constitution but of feeble physique, enabled by strong and quickly- 
repeated stimulants to perform great feats of strength, — terrible ex- 
haustion necessarily followed. In the case of Sweden the stimulants 
were foreign triumphs, administered in heroic doses by boldest practi- 
tioners. The reign of Louis XIV. is nearly a parallel, and that of 
Napoleon. Both achieved marvelous military successes; both reigns 
ended in a prostration, which, as old Bliicher feared for the cause of 
the Allies, would be the case, — i.e., that 

" Pens would lose by writing 
"What swords had won by fighting," 

or otherwise the righteous dismemberment of France in 1871 would 
have been more thoroughly executed, in one case one hundred and fifty, 
and in the other case fifty-six years before it did occur. 

The deeper a student examines into the undeniable facts of history, 
the more it will become evident that there is absolutely nothing new in 
the world, and that what is accepted as new is nothing more than another 
form, or presentation, or application of the old — the Vieux-Netif of Ed- 
ouard Fournier — in some shape or another, justifying the declaration of 
Solomon, or of whoever was the author of Ecclesiastes, that wonderful 
production of the human intellect, that " there is nothing new under the 
sun." It almost would appear as if the adage is true, " The more folks 
learn, the less they know," or as Byron sung it, perhaps, better, — 

" Knowledge is not happiness, and science 



But an exchange of ignorance for that 
Which is another kind of ignorance ;" 

all culminating in the remark of the famous Prime Minister, Oxen- 
stiern, to his son when starting out as representative at Osnabruck, "Go, 
see with what little sense the world is governed." One thing is un- 
questionable, the practical development of modern war dates further 
back than the seventeenth century, and is due not to one man nor two, 
but to many, and it would not be saying too much if it were asserted 
and maintained that war as well as religion owes its first real modern 
impulse to printing. Polybius hit the centre when he wrote that 
" Truth is to history what eyes are to animals. Tear out their eyes and 
they are useless. Even so take Truth from History and it is no longer 
of any use [or value]." ^ Before printing, except as copyists, writers 

^ Any one who honestly desires to appreciate " what history can teach us," let 
him read the article by W. S. Lilly in the Contemjyorary Review, republished 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 427 

drew upon their imaginations or their prejudices for their facts. Print- 
ing came to the rescue and just in time. All that the moderns knew, 
in 1500-1 025, of real war wa.s due to the Romans; tiiat is to say, to 
their adaptativeness and adoption and conversion of the systems they 
encountered, so far improved and amalgamated, as they appear in the 
perfect praxis of the Legion. The Phalanx of the intellectual Greeks 
was a simple application to armed organizations of men of the laws of 
mass and momentum ; the Legion of the less refined but more practi- 
cal Romans was the perfect recognition of the power of momentum 
without the necessity of mass. It was the substitution of the manoeu- 
vring cannon for the ponderous and fixed artillery, — the ballista or bat- 
tering-ram of the ancients, — the flexibility of intelligence and the educa- 
tion of individuals for the stiifness and unaccommodativeness of over- 
armed aggregated numbers. Printing diffused knowledge and repro- 
duced the wisdom and works of antiquity, and Gustavus studied the 
classics, and in them found and from them derived his inspiration. His 
tactics were the reappearance of those of the Legion, destined to shatter 
the massed formations of his opponents as did the legions under T. 
Quinctius Flaniiuius, the piialanx of Philip V. of Macedon at Cynos- 
ciphaloe. Hal lam, however he may be in less or greater degree correct 
in his "Europe during the Middle Ages," claims for the English Con- 
dottiere. Sir John Hawkwood, died a.d. 1394, the honor of being — 

" The first distinguished commander who had appeared in Europe since the de- 
struction of the Roman Empire. It would be absurd to suppose that any of the 
constituent elements of military genius, which nature furnishes to energetic char- 
acters, were wanting to the leaders of a barbarian or feudal army ; untroubled 
perspicacity in confusion, firm decision, rapid execution, providence against attack, 
fertility of resource, and stratagem. These are in quality as much required from 
the chief of an Indian tribe, as from the accomplished commander. But we do not 
find them in any instance so consummated by habitual skill as to challenge the 
name of generalship. No one at least occurs to me previously to the middle of the 
fourteenth century to whom history has unequivocally assigned that character. 
It is very rarely that we find even the order of battles specially noticed. The 
monks, indeed, our only chroniclers, were poor judges of martial excellence; yet, 
as war is the main topic of all annals, we could hardly remain ignorant of any dis- 
tinguished skill in its operations. This neglect of military science certainly did 
not proceed from any predilection for the arts of peace. It arose out of the general 
manners of society, and out of the nature and composition of armies in the Middle 
Ages. The insubordinate spirit of feudal tenants, and the emulous equality of chiv- 
alry, were alike hostile to that gradation of rank, that punctual observance of irk- 
in lAtielVs Living Age, No. 2152, 19th September, 1885, and reflect upon the in- 
fluence of a great man upon the world's progress, — an influence which is due to 
the direct action of the Infinite upon the Finite, through the inspiration of genius, 
the individual, the Man of and for the Time upon Men. 



428 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

some duties, that prompt obedience to a supreme command, through which a single 
soul is infused into the active mass, and the rays of individual merit converge to 
the head of the general. In the fourteenth century, we begin to perceive some- 
thing of a more scientific character in military proceedings, and historians for the 
first time discover that success does not entirely depend upon intrepidity and phys- 
ical prowess. The victory of Muhldorf over the Austrian princes in 1322, that de- 
cided a civil war in the empire, is ascribed to the ability of the Bavarian com- 
mander Schwepperman, [who] is called by a contemporary writer Struvius, 

' CLARtJS MILITARA SCIENTIA VIR.' " 

Many distinguished officers were joined in the school of Edward III. Yet 
their excellencies were perhaps rather those of active partisans than of experienced 
generals. Their successes are still due rather to daring enthusiasm than to wary 
and calculating combination. Like inexpert chess-players, they surprise us by 
happy sallies against rule, or display their talents in rescuing themselves from the 
consequences of their own mistakes. Thus the admirable arrangements of the 
Black Prince at Poitiers hardly redeem the temerity which placed him in a situa- 
tion where the egregious folly of his adversary alone could have permitted him to 
triumph [Lee and " Stonewall" Jackson are most apposite examples of these remarks 
in the Pope campaign]. Hawkwood, therefore, appears to me the first real general 
of modern thnes, — the earliest master, however imperfect, in the science of [Mau- 
rice of Nassau, Gustavus Adolphus, Baner, Torstenson, Mercy] Turenne and 
Wellington. Every contemporary Italian historian speaks with admiration of his 
skillful tactics in battles, his stratagems, his well-conducted retreats. Praise of this 
description, as I have observed, is hardly bestowed — certainly not so continually — 
on any former captain. Hawkwood was not only the greatest but the last of the 
foreign condottiere, or captains of mercenary bands." 

It is useless to enter into an argument as to who did truly give 
the first impulse to systematized modern war ; but it is worth showing, 
and susceptible of proof, that on the field of battle in the application 
of the "Three arms combined," Gustavus Adolphus was the man and 
HIS Leipsic, in 1631, the model. Torstenson's Leipsic, in 1642, was 
finer as an exemplar of simple direction and fighting ; but the Leip- 
sic of Gustavus was equivalent to the quiet daring of Franklin 
when he elicited the electric spark from the kite-string and demon- 
strated the feasibility of the application to buildings, of conductors. 
Gustavus in one sense as Franklin in another eripuit fulmen. 

This flexibility, this individualization of force, is more and more 
manifested ever since in the less and less rigid tactics of each succeed- 
ing war, due as much to the dissemination of intelligence hy pi'inting 
as to the invention of more and more destructive firearms and their 
accumulation on the battle-field ; of which the enormous susceptibili- 
ties were discerned by Gustavus Adolphus or by Torstenson, his famous 
chief of artillery ; which of the two was the man who now can see or 
determine. 

The Thirty Years' War constituted one of the decisive periods in 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 429 

the great process of human development and tlie liberation of Thought 
from the trammels of priestcraft and superstition. Without it, 
Thought would not now be Free. What is more, this contest was 
only a critical crisis in a conflict which may be said to have had a 
prelude in the struggle of the Seven United States of Holland for 
their emancipation from the yoke of Spain, and it was the latent con- 
tinuing virus of the disease which required so much firing and blood- 
letting, — a virus manifested even as late as in the Franco-Cierman 
struggle of 1870-71, which developed a new Empire and Emperor in 
Germany, — both firm in the belief and relief which the principal 
factors adverse to freedom of soul and body strove to crush through- 
out the Thirty Years' War. The most dangerous enemies to Human 
Progress in Europe were the Papacy and the House of Hapsburg, and 
their power was not thoroughly broken until Sadowa, in 1866. Claim- 
ing to be German the Austrians were the direst foes to Germany and to 
human freedom. They were the sworn tormentors and executioners of 
a church, which, if triumphant, would have plunged humanity back 
into a condition analogous to that of the '' Dark Ages," and victorious, 
they would have crippled Mind for centuries. Ferdinand II., who 
made the Thirty Years' War, expressed as to will and wish exactly 
the idea of Tacitus : " They make a desert and they call it peace." 
Such may not have been his intention, as regarded a desert, for a waste 
cannot pay taxes or tithes, but such would have been the inevitable 
result had success crowned his resolve. Little did he think that when 
his organized or "disciplined savages," wasted the Mark of Branden- 
burg, that he was only preparing the way for the Rise of a new au- 
thority in Germany, which should place its heel, within about two 
centuries, upon the very head of his successors. Max Nordau, in his 
awful work, "The Conventional Lies of Civilization," proliibited iu 
Europe, which has passed through seven editions in seven months in 
this country — in the fearful aggressive of his chapter entitled ** The 
Lie of a Monarchy and an Aristocracy," is nevertheless compelled to 
admit that the Prussian Dynasty, "The Ilohenzollerns of Germany, 
have at least a clean record of which they need not be ashamed." 
Frederick the Great, one of the greatest kings who ever simultaneously 
grasped the sceptre of a despotic monarch and the sword of a great 
soldier and general — one of these Hohenzollerns — within one century 
after the close of the Thirty Years' War, inflicted a deadly wound 
upon the Hapsburg power which has never closed and is still bleeding. 
Thence its life-blooil has been ebbing slowly away, until now the third 
successor of Frederick is Eniperor of Germany, and the Austrian 



430 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

Imperialty, once the German Empire, is so little German that it is 
compelled to move in accordance with the influence and direction of 
other races upon which it formerly looked down as the master upon 
the serf. 

Whatever skeptics, or worse, may say, philosophical and critical 
history proves indisputably that as the Moslem says, " There is no God 
but God," and God^ "the Most High, ruleth in the kingdoms of men, 
and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth over it the basest of 
men, — doeth according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among 
the inhabitants of the earth ; and none can stay His hand, or say unto 
Him, ' What doest Thou ?' " 

Whether this Rule is applied through direct interventions or by 

inevitable laws; by immediate miraculous operations or fixed decree, 

has ever been a disputed point, and cannot be settled even through 

comparative citations from the Holy Scriptures. The weight of the 

argument lies in the scale of predetermined regulation, which leaves 

no fissure or hiatus for the voluntary action of mortals. To this is 

conjoined an intimate relation not only between the microcosm (man) 

and the macrocosm (universe), in cause and effect subordinate to law, 

and close affinity, step by step, grade by grade, from the lowest order 

of creation, — through the animal culminating in the highest order of 

men, — to the lights which burn by myriads in the measureless expanse 

of ether, as Pope rhymed, 

" So, from the first, eternal order ran, 
And creature linked to creature, man to man." 

According to Fran nee : 

" Man is all symmetry, 
"Full of proportions, one limb to another, 

A7id all the world besides. 
Each part may call the farthest brother. 
For head with foot hath private amity, 
And both with both moon and tides. 

^ The Buddhists seem to demonstrate this in their universal prayer, " Om mane 
padmi Oum, Oh God, the jewel [only Supreme] in the Lotus, Amenl" and the 
Zoroastrians in theirs, "the purest and noblest religion of antiquity," recognized 
a One Almighty Supreme over Ormuzd, the principle of good, and Ahriman, the 
representative of evil — One whole. 

" Joy above the name of pleasure, 

Deep self-possession, an intense repose. . . . 

No other than as Eastern sages paint, 

The God [Oji] who floats upon a Lotos leaf; 

Dreams for a thousand ages, then awaking, 

Creates a world, and, smiling at the bubble, 

Belapses into bliss." — Coleridge. 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 431 

" Nothing hath got so far, 
But man hath caught and kept it as his prey. 
His eyes dismount tlic highest star, 
He is, in little, all the sphere. 
Herbs cure our flesh because that they 
Find their acquaintance there.' ^ 

This was exactly tlie idea of the great Paracelsus, so abused by 
empirics, pedants, and people unable to reach the height of his genius 
understand him. 

Wallenstein, whose horoscope (talisman [or astrological amulet]) 
is still preserved in the "Treasury" "Imperial Burg," at Vienna, 
stands by no means alone in his firm faith in the influence upon, and 
revelation of, the stars as regards the fortunes of men. The horoscopes 
of Gustavus, and of Pappenheim, and of Christian IV., made in 
accordance with the stellar conjunctions at their birth, were strangely 
fulfilled ; that of the first exactly. The appearance of comets, " im- 
porting change," has always been regarded as ominous, and no one who 
beheld it can forget the huge meteor which piissed over our country 
before the Slaveholders' Rebellion, in 1860, first separated into two 
with a mighty explosion, sailed on portentously, and, thus divided, 
across the arch of heaven and, then, became reunited into one orb before 
it disappeared ; nor that which in the Northwestern heavens shone like 
a vast sword dripping blood, in 18G3. Examples might be multiplied, 
but to whoever disbelieves in these appearances there is no need to say 
more or enter into further proofs or even more extraordinary examples 
of cause and effect or influence. 

It is very doubtful if any of the leading men of the time were not 
more or less superstitious. Among the Positivists it has been asserted 
by his friends and admirers and by historians that " Bauer was elevated 
far above fear and credulity." Above fear unquestionably, yes ; but 
whether he was superior to the superstitions of his time is not so certain, 
especially if Parival, who published in 1056, is correct in his "History 
of this Iron Age," which comprises one of the most reliable accounts 
of the Thirty Years' War. This author appears to have been actpiainted 
with all the secrets of the time, and, for some reason or other, was able 
to obtain information in regard to the peculiarities of every one of note. 
In Part II., Chapter vii., page 179, he says, speaking of Ban6r and 
Torstenson's campaign of 1639: 

^^ Bannier went into Bohemia, Torstenzon into Lusatia, and Stalhans into 
Silesia; and God knows into what condition tliey put that country, where they 
found more friends than the Imperialists did in Pumerania. He defeated General 
Marizini neer Chemniz, and incaniped before Prague, where he also defeated General 



432 THE AEMY AND NAVY QUAETERLY. October 

Sofkirck. All the world was amazed at this progress, which against all aj^parence 
and all expectation, and which cost so much blood, so much desolation, and so many 
inflagrations throughout all Saxonie, and even to the very gates of Prague. Fortune 
had again turned her back upon the Imperialis^ts, who changed their commander. 
For, the Arch-Duke Leopold was declared Generalissimo or Chief-General, and 
Piccolomini his Lieutenant. Many encounters hapened, in which the Swedes had 
almost still the better and Fortune accoinpanied them even to the last, according to 
the assurance lohich was given Bannier, bg a certain peasant, who was become 
HIS prophet." 

During the Thirty Years' War there were manifest examples of 
the stultification of those whom the Almighty had predestined to fall, 
to stumble, or to go astray, as the propiiet coarsely but forcibly ex- 
pressed it, — in language which seems unpolished to the nicety of the 
hypercritical ears of this generation, — when he speaks of the oppressor 
becoming brutish in his arrogance and erring in every work as a drunken 
man staggereth in his vomit, slipping and finally falling in it. For 
example, Gustavus could not have acquired all he did and have estab- 
lished his base securely, in 1631, if Austria had not, in consistence with 
her fatal greed, attempted to grasp all and in the futile attempt periled 
everything. Had the "disciplined savages," sent into Italy to sack 
Mantua, been present in Saxony, Gustavus could not have won at 
Leipsic; and if Ferdinand had not had Wallenstein assassinated in the 
nick of time for the Swedes, Nordlingen would have arrived two years 
before it did and the sagacious diplomacy of the murdered Great Cap- 
tain, Friedland, would have rendered the League of Heilbronn and the 
recuperation of Oxenstiern and Baner an utter impossibility. 

Colonel Malleson, B.A., in his paper or address, read before the 
Royal British Historical Society, 7th February, 1884, entitled "The 
Lost Opportunities of Austria," shows that the Peace of Westphalia, 
24th October, 1648, left Germany divided into two camps. "Inter- 
nally — that is, within the limits of Germany — the Peace of Westphalia 
settled the religious question. Whilst it confirmed the dogma, held by 
every prince, great and small, as an unquestioned prerogative, that the 
religion of the prince was to be the religion of the people [Cajus I'egio 
ejus religio), it left, with rare exceptions, the people practically free to 
worship God as they chose. (The expulsion of the Protestants of 
Styria, by the Emperor Charles VI., is an exception to this general 
rule.) But as, generally, the people of Southern Germany adhered to 
the old, and those of Northern Germany embraced, in some form or 
other, the [Evangelical, so styled] reformed religion, the practical 
result was to divide Germany into two camps, — the Southerners, allied 
by sympathy with Austria; the Northerners, more or less divided, but 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 433 

prepared, as the sequel has proved, to follow the lead of a strong Man 
whenever that strong man sliould appear." . . . 

"That strong Man" did appear in Frederick the Great, and it was 
against him, wheu he had weakened with age and trials, that Au.stria, 
in 1778, again manifested her incapability to profit by opportunity. 

" Again, after a term of years, did the question arise [the question of Austria's 
possession of Bavaria]. Again was the opportunity oflered. In the interval liad oc- 
curred the two Silesian "Wars, and the Seven Years' War. The daughter of Charles 
VI., the illustrious Maria Theresa, ruled over all her father's dominions, lost Silesia 
excepted. By her side, invested nominally with equal powers, but obliged to con- 
form in matters of high policy to the strong will of the Empress, stodd her gifted 
son, Joseph II. Once again offered the opportunity of incorporating Bavaria, al- 
though, this time, not without a battle. The opportunity arose in this wise Charles 
Albert, of Bavaria, had lived to enjoy a fleeting gleam of prosperity by his election to 
the imperial dignity ; and had then died, all his ambitious hopes shattered, in 1745. 
His son, Maximilian Joseph III., had, by the Peace of Fussen, April 22 of the same 
year (1745), become reconciled to Austria. He died childless December 30, 1777. 
He was the last of the Bavarian line of the House of Wittelsbach. His nearest of kin 
was the Elector Palatine, Charles Theodore. But, in virtue of the title of investiture 
drawn up more than a century before by the Emperor Sigisnuind, the House of Habs- 
burg had claims, on the failure of heirs to the Bavarian Wittelsbachs, to the whole 
of Lower Bavaria. Joseph II. then represented, in co-regency with his renowned 
mother, the House of Habsburg. He did not allow the opportunity to slip. Charles 
Theodor was childless, and had no hope of children. A lover of pleasure, given to 
profuse expenditure on his own gratifications, he readily acceded to the claims of 
Austria to transfer to her the territory indicated in Sigismund's old parchment. 

" But his nearest relative and heir, Charles II., Duke of Zweibriicken, stepped 
in to prevent the transaction, appealed to the old jealousj' of the aggrandisement of 
the House of Austria, of Frederic II , of Prussia, and incited that Prince to invade 
Bohemia, in order to maintain the right of the ruler of Bavaria and his successors 
to the possessions of the territories intact, just as they had been at the death of the 
last of the Bavarian Wittelsbachs. This action on the part of Frederic brought on 
the War of the Bavarian Succession. Joseph, meanwhile, had taken up on the Bo- 
hemian frontier, behind the Elbe, a position so strong by nature and so ft)rliflcd by 
art, that Frederic found it unassailable. He did all he knew, tried all the tricks 
and stratagems which had served him so well during the Seven Years' War, to 
entice Joseph from his strong position, to divide the army, or to leave an opening 
for an attack. Joseph was not to be tempted, and his quiet persistence completely 
baffled the great warrior-king. But Frederic did not renounce hope. He had 
ordered his brother. Prince Henry, to march through Saxony and endeavor to 
break into Bohemia through Lausitz. With the aid of the army under his orders 
ho would have at his disposal a sufficient superiority of numbers to force the Aus- 
trian position. But Joseph had placed in the field, to observe and baffle Prince 
Henry, an army fifty thousand strong, under the command of his best general, 
Field Marshal Loudon, a man who had shown his capacity to look even Frederic 
himself in the face. Able, then, as were the dispositions made bj- Prince Henry, 
Loudon battled them. He did more; he forced the Prince to retreat. He followed 
him and was on tlie point of forcing him to deliver, under very disadvantageous 
circumstances, a battle which [according to Austrian critics and others friendly 
Vol. I.— No. 4. 28 



434 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

to them], if success had crowned his efforts, would have been fatal to Frederic, 
which would not only have secured the whole of Lower Bavaria, but have recov- 
ered Silesia [I?], when his [Loudon's] hand was stayed in the most marvelous 
manner. The story is thus graphically told by the Freiherr von Janko, in liis 
' Life of Loudon :' ' On September 3, 1778, information reached Loudon that Prince 
Henry had crossed the Elbe near Leitmeritz, and had taken a firm position. Ex- 
claiming, "Now, at last, I have the Prince in the position in which, since the be- 
ginning of the war, I have wished to see him," Loudon sent an express to the 
Emperor to promise him, if he would send him only twelve battalions, he would 
finish the war. The Emperor dispatched the battalions. Loudon, meanwhile, had 
concentrated his troops ; and, hearing that the battalions were proceeding by forced 
marches to join him, hastened from Munchengratz [where the emperors of Austria 
and Russia and the king of Prussia met in 1833], to Benatek, crossed the Elbe at 
Brandeis, the Moldau at Weltrus, and on September 20 took up a position opposite 
Prince Henry at Budin. His position was in every respect most advantageous for 
an attack, one of his corps occupying a commanding post on the enemy's left, whilst 
his front and right were so placed that Prince Henry could not retreat without 
fighting, whilst in case of defeat his army had no means of escape.' 

" I now relate, in the words of the author, the incident which prevented the 
destruction of the Prussian army: 'With an overstrained anxietj'^ every one in 
both camps,' writes von Janko, ' beheld the arrival of the moment which was to 
decide the question of superiority between the two generals, who, according to the 
judgment of the best-approved strategists, had, during the Seven Years' War, 
made no mistakes — [for had not Frederic himself declared, to his generals, one day, 
speaking of the events of the Seven Years' War, " We all committed faults, except 
my brother Henry and Loudon.'^ ' And yet this Loudon, the capturer, in 1761, by 
a brilliant stroke, of Schweidnitz, was rewarded for the astounding success by a 
partial eclipse, until events made his employment in the highest command a matter 
of absolute necessity.] 

" But just as Loudon was preparing, on the 23d, for an attack which should be 
decisive, Loudon was surprised by the arrival in his camp of the Emperor. 
Joseph had come himself, in order to soften, by his presence, the unpleasantness 
of the orders of which he was the bearer. The Empress, absolutely determined to 
bring to an end by peaceful means the dispute between Frederic and herself, had 
commanded her son to forbid at all costs t^le risking of a battle, even were a brilliant 
victory the certain consequence. Maria Theresa, in fact, saw opposed to her only 
the warrior who, having robbed her of Silesia, had kept that province against all 
continental Europe. She did not realize the fact that Frederic was no longer the 
Frederic of Leuthen and Torgau [?], but an overcautious warrior, fearing to risk 
much lest he should lose all ; she dreaded lest, as in former days, a defeat should 
only make him the more terrible in his revenge. On the eve, then, of a battle 
which [according to the story of the Austrians and their partial friends] could not 
have been lost, and which would, in its results, have amply avenged her earlier 
wrongs, she ordered Loudon to abstain. Loudon did abstain. Peace was con- 
cluded. Austria renounced her pretensions to the whole of Lower Bavaria and 
was forced to be content with the acquisition of the Inn Circle and Braunau, a 
territory of about a hundred and ninety square miles. The fears of Maria Theresa 
had lost the opportunity of incorporating the whole of Lower Bavaria and of 
recovering Silesia!" — (Pages 246-249.) Transactions of the Royal Historical 
Society [of Great Britain'], New Series, Vol. II., Part HI., London, 1884. 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 435 

Space precludes the opportunity of following out to completeness 
this line of proof, but it is simply necessary to close the presentation 
here with the remark of one of the ablest statesmen who has ever 
lived, William Pitt, that " Austria has always been one year behind 
the rest of the world with an idea and with an army," or as a military 
critic worded it, "one idea, one year, and one battle behind time." 
The Austrians never dared to fight a doubtful or prolonged battle out, 
as Grant said unjustly of the Army of the Potomac, and then, to prove 
that he was right, proceeded recklessly to fight it to pieces. 

Before leaving this subject for good it nu'ght be sensible to dwell 
upon the stupid bigoted arrogance of the Emperor Ferdinand II. and 
his ghostly advisers, who had several glorious opportunities to pacify 
the discord, by the a])plication of simple justice: 1, after the battle of 
the White Mountain in 1G20; 2, after the temporarily decisive battles 
of Wimpfen in 1622, of Lutter in 1626, of Nordlingen in 1634. 
After those dates neither he nor they had any other such an opportunity, 
and they had shown their hands too clearly and had aroused passions 
which nothing but defeat or victory could exhaust or annul, or gratify 
or avenge. " Extraordinary times," says Becker, "developed equally 
extraordinary forces, and even more extraordinary men." This was 
peculiarly the case with the Thirty Years' War. The " Wars which 
grew out of the French Revolution," which comprise the Napoleonic 
conflicts of seventeen years, developed no such succession of marvelous 
leaders. Of all who influenced the end of those more recent twenty- 
three years, not more than three will live in the far future as "directors 
of the storm." Wellington ! Bliicher ! and Xapoleon ! The Archduke 
Charles^ might have been added, to convert the trio into a quartette, if 
he had had more than six hours a day working power in him. 

During the Thirty Years' War there was a succession of heroes. 
They are named here, not in order of time, but in order of greatness 
and authority. Gustavus Adolphus, " the foremost man — according 
to accepted general history — of all this modern world," and his great 

' Croker (1, 314) asked Wellington " whether the Archduke Charles was really 
a great officer ?■' Wellington — "A great officer? Why, he knows more about it 
than ail of us put together." Croker — " What, than Bonaparte, Moreau, or your- 
self?" Wellington — "Aye! than Bonaparte or anj'^ of us. We are none of us 
worthy to fasten the latchets of his shoes, if I am to judge from his book and his 
plans of campaign. But his mind or his health has, they tell me, a very peculiar 
defect. He is admirable for five or six hours, and whatever can be done in tiiat 
time will be done perfectly ; but after that he falls into a kind of epileptic stupor, 
does not know what he is about, has no opinions of his own, and does whatever the 
man at his elbow telU him." 



436 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

antagonist, Wallenstein. Schmidt, v. 1, quoting, remarks, " In fact, 
it is probable that the Protestant party and perhaps the Lutheran 
(form of) reh'gion in Germany would have been blotted out if Fortune, 
tired of serving the vast designs of Ferdinand ; or, rather, if Provi- 
dence by a secret judgment, the depth of which every one must adore, had 
not then (at the crisis) raised up the most formidable enemy which the 
empire ever had, in the person of Gustavus Adolphus, King of 
Sweden." Bougeant, i. 150; Naylor, ii. 382, justly adds, "A curious 
confession for a Jesuit !" It is questionable if Wallenstein ranks very 
far below the former in intellect, /oresight. In farsight he was fully 
equal to Gustavus. In tnsight he seemed to have failed terribly, 
especially in his selections of confidants, executives, and what the 
world generally styles friends.* 



* The rise of Wallenstein — like that of Wellington — was much more honorable 
than that of Napoleon Bonaparte, and his fall infinitely more dignified and manly. 
He was the son of his own great actions, and not one of his promotions but was 
earned. It is stated by Gfrorer that he commanded, under Dampierre, a squadron 
of the cuirassiers who delivered Ferdinand II. at the crisis of his fate in 1620, at a 
moment on which the future of the emperor and his family and the empire turned. 
He at once became a necessity, and he simply, but grandly, improved his opportu- 
nities. Again and again he preserved the Emperor, and he was assassinated by that 
cruel bigot because he had become too powerful as a subject, when, in addition to 
his influence, he exhibited a perfect insight into the fanaticism and administration 
which was ruining his country, and when he gave indications that, with time and 
opportunity he would traverse the plans of the Jesuits and their pupils, and estab- 
lish a toleration and justice far ahead of the time and their power of conception. 
He was an extraordinary compound of crime and virtue. His crimes were those of 
his period and position ; his virtues were all his own. He was mean, but seldom ; 
he was magnanimous, but often. He performed noble and glorious actions, which 
few men are able, under similar circumstances, to bring themselves to do. He was 
never little in punishments nor rewards. 

The former were annihilating as the other munificent. His great mistake was 
his conduct at the siege of Stralsund, and even there he would or might not have 
failed if the Danes and the Swedes had not interfered. The first he disarmed ; 
the second he could neither terrify nor cajole, because their king felt that if he per- 
mitted Stralsund to fall, Sweden must inevitably suffer and succumb. 

Wallenstein would now appear a very great general if he only had a Jomini, 
who, after all, was a courtier — often making good appear bad, and evil show as 
meritorious — and in spite of the injustice manifested by Napoleon towards Jomini, 
his very selfishness made him a very mild critic of that heartless tyrant and greatly 
overestimated man. 

" The invasion of Gustavus Adolphus, the defeat of the Imperial armies at 
Leipzig, the conquest of Bavaria by the Swedes, and the death of Tilly" were 
accomplished facts. The empire was on the brink of ruin, and there was only one 
man who could save it. This man was Waldstein. When the emperor requested 
and, at last, implored him to resume the command, he showed that he felt all his 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 437 

Tilly enjoys an exaggerated estimate. He was a lucky evolution of 
circumstances which he certainly did not improve anything near to the 
uttermost, and he was very weak in so far that he allowed himself to 
be swayed by rash counsels, — for instance, as at Leipzig, 1631, against 
liis own better judgment. In this weakening he sinks exactly to the 
level of the old Mohawk Valley militia general, Herkimer, who plunged 
into the slaughter-pit of Oriskany simply because his militia colonels 
charged him with cowardice and treason if he did not push on blindly, 
a course which his common sense told him would be suicidal, as it 
proved to be. Pappenheim's rashness dragged Tilly into the battle he 
sought to shun and then down to disgrace and death. Ward styles 
Tilly "an honest old savage, whom a recent refreshingly audacious 
attempt [of Klopp, Keyiu and Company] has failed to whitewash into 

importance. After having declined the position several times, he at last agreed to 
it on the following conditions : 

" That Wald»tein should have the sole control of the army, which he promised 
to raise ; and there should be no imperial authority within his camp; no peace 
should be concluded without his consent, he, as Duke of Mecklenburg, being one 
of the belligerent parties ; he should have full power to manoeicvre and to take iip his 
quarters however and tvherever he should find it convenient ; that he should have the 
sovereignty of the provinces that he might conquer ; and that the emperor should 
give him as reward one of his Hereditary States (Bohemia?), of which he was to 
be the sovereign, though as a vassal of the emperor." 

"The campaign of Waldstein against Gustavus Adolphus has been told in the 
article on the Thirty Years' War. [/< would require the knowledge of a consummate 
general to decide whether Waldatein or Gustavus was the greater captain. Jg^^But 
from the moment that Waldstein resumed the command, he directed all operations, 
and Gustavus Adolphus acted under the impressions which he received from the 
plans of Waldstein. In his life of Turenne (i. 23) the Chevalier de Ramsay asserts 
' Waldstein's fortune balanced that of the Swedish hero.'] Waldstein's defense 
of the lines near Nurnberg can onh' bo compared with the defense of the lines of 
Torres Vedras by the Duke of Wellington. The inarch of the King of Sweden 
towards Bavaria, after his fruitless attempt on the lines near Nurnberg, was a great 
fault; and although the king soon perceived his error and changed his plan by 
rapidly following Waldstein, this circumstance is another proof of what we have 
just said. It is true that Waldstein lost the battle of Lutzen (6th of November, 
1G32), but able judges have given it as their opinion that on this occasion Wald- 
stein showed his superiority to the king in the choice of the battle-field, while the 
king is said to have shown greater ability in the direction of his attacks. But the 
successful part of these attacks was the merit of Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, 
the king having fallen in the beginning of the battle, while engaged in rallying 
his troups, which were disorganized in consequence of those fruitless attacks which 
he directed""^8 

" As to the military conduct of Waldstein after the battle of Lutzen, we shall 
only add that he punished with death many generals, colonels, and inferior officers 
who had not behaved well in that battle. He soon repaired his losses, and his 
arms were victorious in Saxony and Silesia." 



438 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

a Christian hero!" How different the decision of Schuyler, the real 
conqueror of Burgoyne, in regard to the relief of Fort Stanwix ! 

Mansfeld, " the German Attila," was a far more remarkable man 
than Tilly, more bright, resolute and endowed with greater individual 
resources, although far less moral than the old lay-Jesuit. Although 
not handsome or well-formed he loved the other sex, and he always 
had a bevy of beauties about him, but with his amorousness and ac- 
quisitiveness he was destitute of fear, and could rule the ruthless hordes 
around him with a hand of iron which made the fiercest quail. Witness 
his putting down a mutiny : Gfrorer tells us that in a small most unat- 
tractive body dwelt an ever-restless soul. Nature had formed him to 
be a military leader, and with a power almost unexampled he knew, 
when he chose (which, however, seldom happened), how to curb his 
lawless troops. Once, during the Bohemian War (1520), a crowd of 
soldiers thronged his doors and demanded their pay, long since due. 
All alone he came out, cut two down, and wounded a lot more. Then 
some six hundred pikemen rushed upon him whom he drove off. 
Fearlessly, Mansfeld, followed by three captains, mounted, rode right 
into the mass of mutineers, shot eleven, wounded twenty-six, and made 
the Mdiole submit. As a rule, Mansfeld let his soldiers have free 
course in a country. He wag Wallenstein's instructor in demonstrating 
how to make the people maintain his army through sheer robbery. In 
this he was mightier than a king. The British general, Sir Edward 
Oust, author of the " Annals of the Wars," and a number of military 
biographies of the highest order, states that Mansfeld " is regarded as 
one of the greatest generals of the seventeenth century; but he was 
too reckless of gain to have been a good disciplinarian, and his strategy 
Avas rather the effect of experience than of study." If trustworthy 
reports of his improvements have been handed down, he developed "a 
well-organized system of vedettes and patrols, which constitute the eyes 
and ears of an army." The claim for him that he was " the first to 
employ dragoons in warfare," or horse-musketeers, must simply mean 
that he assigned them to duties most proper for their peculiar arms, 
etc., and discipline, for they were an arm apart long before, as shown 
in J. W. de P.'s Articles on " Cavalry," in The United Se^'viee : I., 
September; II., November; III., December, 1880. 

Mansfeld was a diminutive, sickly-looking, deformed man, but he 
possessed the soul of a true hero. Constantly persecuted by fortune, 
he was to the last [bore himself] superior to his fate, and he merits 
immortality, for he had always proved himself [personally] superior 
to adversity. He was a very eloquent, persuasive, and successful ne- 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 43D 

gotiator, raised armies with incredible rapidity, was bold in council, 
fearless in danger, fertile in resources, resolute, and never shrinking 
even under the most adverse circumstances. The French, who felt the 
weight of his blows, gave him a nickname equivalent to " Bloody 
Bones;" the Imperialists styled him the " Attila of Christianity ;" and 
disinterested military critics, " the Ulysses of Germany." llomanists 
and politicians may abuse Mansfeld as they will, but they cannot de- 
stroy the proof of his frequent exhibitions of magnanimity and con- 
sistent heroism. Nor did Christian of Brunswick fall behind him in 
the latter exalted quality. 

Christian of Brunswick, the Achilles to this Ulysses, was his pupil. 
Schiller speaks of them as " two men worthy of immortality, had they 
been but as superior to their times as they were to their adversities." 
They, private individuals, by their force of character, kept alive the 
war against an empire and a league for six years, and had these troops 
enjoyed the advantages of those of Tilly and Wallenstein, they would 
have checkmated both Emperor and Princes. The world rolling on, 
subject to inevitable law, as Seneca wrote eighteen hundred years ago, 
expressing the ideas of philosophers long antecedent, and indorsed by 
the deepest reflection ever since, must attribute the failures of the good, 
the honest, the truly brave, and the rarely unselfish to the fiat (Fate) 
which the good and wise Arnold adduces as the only valid excuse for 
Plannibal's not marching on Rome after Caunse, *' God did riot will it 
to be so." 

" All accounts of the times are full of numberless stories of Chris- 
tian's contempt of death, of his fury in combat." Like Mansfeld, 
his preceptor, he was fond of beauty and liked to see it around him. 
He is the only leader of the period who appears without beanl or 
moustache. He died before he was twent^--six, of poison, it is sup- 
posed, administered by the emissary of his enemies. 

As a levier or creator of armies out of apparent nothing, the almost 
Boy-Bishop Christian of Brunswick, or the Halberstadter, dubbed 
Knight of the exalted British Order of the Garter by James I., in 
1624, rises up almost like a giant. Greater than Murat as the leader 
of a charge of cavalry, he was already a ca[)tain of dragoons in the 
Dutch service before he had any sign of down upon his lip. This 
is the best proof of his fitness to lead men, because the Dutch were too 
economical to trust a squadron of those horsemen which cost them so 
much money, to any one who did not know how to command and 
handle them to commercial as well as to military advantage (Dalgelty). 
His cavalry charge at Fleurus is admitted to have been one of the most 



440 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

gallant of the kind during the whole Thirty Years' War, — superior to 
any made by Pappenheim. Gfrorer corroborates this, in that he reads, 
" The day of Fleurus was the most brilliant of the whole of Christian's 
Marlike career." 

It is claimed that Gustavus Adolphus styled Pappenheim "the 
Soldier." Mark the title; not General, but Soldier; and, drawing the 
attention to the true distinction between the definitions, the intrinsic 
difference between these two titles "Let him (Pappenheim) fleet on," — 
** Be air !" and disappear among the shades. 

Of the Germans, Bernard of Saxe- Weimar was the hero, and wher- 
ever undaunted courage without pure generalship could win, he won. 
The triumph at Lutzen was solely his, — always remembering the ex- 
treme ability of the Swedish lieutenant-generals, and the gallantry of 
their troops, pretty much all expended on that field. The same rash- 
ness or desperation lost Nordlingen, which almost neutralized Lutzen. 
At Rheinfelden, his career of success would have ended had it not been 
for the generalship of the " Perfect Captain," the mortally-wounded 
Huguenot, Duke de Rohan. It is questionable if the partisan, the 
sly Konigsmark, was not equal to Bernard in military capacity and 
enterprise, yea, even to Turenne ; during this war, as a lieutenant or sub- 
ordinate he was far his superior. But oh, what a succession of heroes 
did Sweden bring forth. As one fell, another took his place, great, 
greater, the greatest, Torstenson, " under Sweden's crown Sweden's 
greatest commander;" greater as a general than even his sovereign, 
Gustavus, greater as a fighter than Ban6r, greater as a disciplinarian 
and humanitarian than Horn, greater than all the rest in his combina- 
tion of genius and talent, as a commander of infantry, as a leader of 
cavalry, and as a handler of artillery ; a Feld-hcrr, a diplomatist, a man 
of culture, learned in classic lore, a lettered man with a developed taste 
for the fine arts. " Uy Lennart," as Gustavus affectionately was 
wont to style him, who thought that next to Torstenson came Nils 
Brahe, killed at Lutzen. Then came Ban6r, hyperbolical ly styled 
"the second Gustavus," who owed his greatest triumph and much of 
his other successes to Torstenson ; then Lilijehoek, killed at Leipzig 
second, who was esteemed much higher than Wrangel, Jr., who had 
the luck to finish the war, a good fortune due in a great measure to his 
having been dry-nursed by Torstenson when the latter could no longer 
keep the field in person and command. Last in this list, which cannot 
be extended for want of time, comes the nephew of the great Gustavus, 
afterwards known as Charles X., Gustavus, king of Sweden, who would 
have superseded Wrangel had the war lasted a few months longer, and 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 441 

have enjoyed the credit of finishing it. He rather belongs to the Ger- 
mans than to the Swedes, and it is as hard to rank him as a general as it 
is to ])lace him as to race. lie did great deeds. Pie was tiie conqueror 
of Poland and of Denmark, and if the Dutch and English had not 
interfered with their fleets and diplomacy, he might have accomplished 
the union of the "Three Northern Crowns," and constituted a king- 
dom strong enough to act as counterpoise to Russia. Neither IJernaid 
of Saxe- Weimar nor Ban6r surpassed him in audacity and enterprise, 
but he lacked all the discreet characteristics of Torstenson, whom he 
recognized as his preceptor in the Art of War. 

Without forgetting or depreciating the solid, the cube-like greatness 
of Gustavus Adolphus, or the brilliant soldiership of Charles X. Gus- 
tavus, more than one historian wiio has considered their careers with 
philosophic clearness and calmness, has come to the conclusion that it is 
questionable if the enterprises of both were not as exhaustive to Swe- 
den as what has been styled " the madness" of Charles XII. (Horace 
Marryatt's " One Year in Sweden," II. 229, de P. alcove N. Y. S. L.) 
Gustavus Adolphus and his immediate pupils in war were to Sweden 
■what Epaminondas was to Thebes, but just as Tiiebes was too weak to 
keep u]) the exertion requisite to maintain her supremacy in Greece, 
which Epaminondas, "the greatest of the Greeks," bestowed upon her 
through, and solely through his supreme individual force, just so Swe- 
den was too poor a country to stand the drain made upon her resources 
by Gustavus Adolphus and Charles X. Gustavus. Slie was bled so 
profusely by them that, had not the cool-bloodedly astute or cruelly 
sagacious Charles XI,, intervened and stopped the hemorrhages and 
allowed her veins to fill again, and administered cordials to reinvigorate 
her, through his " Edict of Restitution," or seizure or reappropriation 
of the prodigal gifts of the crown-lands and appanages, etc., to favorites 
deserving as well as undeserving, Charles XII. would have found no 
strength left to expend on his wild career of conquest and military 
crusades, for they were little less, however boldly and ably carried out, 
until arrested at Pultowa by sujierior multitudes of barbarism piled 
upon him, suffocatingly, by a semi-barbarian despot, Peter the Great. 
(See the V icompte de Vogue's " True Story of Mazeppa.") As it was, 
the Rise, Increment, Apogee, Decline, Fall, and Syncope of Swedish 
influence began with the coronation of Gustavus Adolphus in 1618 and 
ended with the death of Charles XII. in 1718. This unnatural 
strength almost reminds the observer of the effort of the empiric ciUled 
in during the last illness of Louis XIV., who by his "heroic treat- 
ment" and stimulants, seemed to restore the moribund. When the 



442 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

effects, however astonishing for the moment, passed off, the gangrene 
resumed its progress or sway and hope was at an end. 

A thorough study of all accessible authorities, and they have been 
very numerous, — Swedish, German, French, and English, — leads to 
the conviction that in some respects the character of Gustavus Adol- 
phus has never been correctly presented. He was not the faultless maa 
that his eulogists would have people to believe. His violent temper, 
which often carried him to extremes, his love episode with Ebba Brahe, 
— "the memory of this early love cast a gloom over his whole exist- 
ence," — and his amour with the Dutch maiden of Gottenborg, who 
gave birth to his only son — afterwards a Swedish general. Count 
Wasaborg,^ who was wounded at Wittstock by the side of Ban6r and 
Torstenson — and a hundred other incidents of his life, show that he 
was simply a mortal after all; an exceptional one, however, and there- 
fore greater in. that he was not a miracle or a demigod, but one, as St. 
Paul exclaimed, when the citizens of Lystra would have worshiped 
him as a god, " We also are men of like passions with you." In fact, 
Gustavus was not so faultless or perfect a man as generally held up to 
be by moralists and optimists, because he often displayed human weak- 
nesses and human policy ; but when his nobler qualities of heart and 
mind are weighed against all the blemishes which can even be alleged, 
he was indeed geeat, because represented as he is, or can be, he was 
after all a man, and what the world — humanity — needs in its crisis is 
a MAN, and " men and deeds," as Duncan Macgregor sings so grandly 
in his " Clouds and Sunshine:'^ 

"Wanted: Men! "Wanted: Deeds! 

Not systems fit and wise, Not words of winning note, 

Not faith with rigid eyes, Not thoughts from life remote. 

Not wealth in mountain piles, Not fond religious airs. 

Not power with gracious smiles, Not sweetly languid prayers, 

Not even the potent pen ; Not love of cant and creeds ; 

Wanted: Men! Wanted: Deeds! 

" Men and Deeds ! 
Men that can dare and do ; 
Not longings for the new. 
Not pratings of the old ; 
Good life and action bold — 
These the occasion needs. 
Men and Deeds !" 



5 After the death of his daughter Christina, unmarried and without issue, the 
direct line of Gustavus was extinct, but has still representatives in Sweden through 
this Count Wasaborg, whose eclipse and disappearance is another proof that great 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 443 

There are always two sides to every story, although one may be 
strongly authenticated and the other comjiaratively weak and even 
only problematical, nevertheless in a number of cases the latter may 
eventually prove to be the most trustworthy in its realization of the 
spirit, — that spirit which maketh alive when the letter killeth or 
seemeth to kill. Gustavus Adolphus was not the disinterested man he 
is held to have been by simple panegyrists. He was not the saviour, 
pure and simple, that he appears in his biogra})hies. He did not enter 
upon the German War directly from the impulse of religious duty or 
sympathy. He was impelled by state policy, by military strategy, by 
ambition, — yes, as he regarded the matter, by necessity; by all these 
motives, as well as by religious duty and feeling, and by devotion to 
the truth. 

Gustavus was learned in classic lore and took Ciesar and Scipio for 
his models (Becker ix. 56). The former taught him to seek out the 
enemy abroad, as Csesar did in the country east of the Adriatic to 
keep war out of Italy, and away from Home, the aim of that war as 
Washington was the grand objective of the " Slaveholders' Rebellion ;" 
and Scipio was an example that it was wiser to carry war into the 
Africa of Gustavus (Germany) than to let an imperial Hannibal (Wal- 
lenstein) bring its miseries into Sweden. Memnon gave the same 
military advice to Darius, and had it been followed, the career of 
Alexander the Great in Asia would be read very differently, if indeed 
it would be read at all. 

The chief element of Sweden's intrinsic strength lay in its penin- 
sular position, which justified Gustavus Adolphus in electing an 
aggressive which was eminently a defensive-aggressive, instead of 
submitting to a purely defensive, the latter a course which, in the long 
run, is inevitably suicidal. Sweden — under the circumstances of the 
period, with naval strength untrustworthy as to time and combination 
— occupied the same position as to Wallenstein and as to the Empire 
as England did to Napoleon ; or, more properly, that England under 
Elizabeth did to Spain and its imperialty of wealth and force — Scotland 
paralyzed by intestine greeds, rivalries, and religious antagonisms, just 
as Denmark had been too much crippled by Tilly and Wallenstein to 
interfere again in a quarrel in which, had it been true to its own hates 
and perhaps interests, it might have been wise to interfere or else keep 
quiet ever after, which the Danes had not the sense to do. Denmark 



men must have groat mothers as well as great fathers. This justifies the rule of the 
Seinilic and other races, who only trace descent through the mothers. 



444 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

at this time acted just as Prussia operated in 1805, when in cordial, 
active union with Austria and Russia, Napoleon, the Wallenstein of 
another period, must have been beaten. Again, in 1806, Austria was 
equally derelict, when Prussia and Russia were combined, justifying 
the fear of Jomini, who expected that the Hapsburg — if the leopard 
could under any circumstances change its spots — would take advantage 
of Napoleon's defeat at Preuss-Eylau — for defeat it was if Benningsen 
had only had one or two more roast potatoes to give him physical 
strength to hold on — should issue forth from the sally-ports or 
passes of its bastion of Bohemia, take the French in the rear, sever 
their communications, and annihilate the common enemy. Alas! hu- 
man beings, even those esteemed the wisest, in accordance with "the 
Conventional Lies of Civilization," seldom, if ever, act in obedience 
to horse common sense, but are almost always submissive to what is 
oftenest most foolish policy and sheer dijjlomacy. 

It was through this endeavoring to combine the spirit of worldly 
policy and gain and the spirit of religious conviction and dedication 
that he fell at Lutzen, or failed. Remember that the bitterest denun- 
ciation was launched against Laodicea, not because it was the most 
derelict of the Seven Churches, but because it was "neither cold nor 
hot." "You cannot serve God and Mammon." So far as ability and 
learning are concerned, Zwingli was a far greater man than Luther, 
but he strove to overcome through a coalition, through the sword of 
spirit and the sword of flesh ; to unite religion, military force, policy, 
and politics; and he fell, comparatively young, at all events in his 
prime of intellect and strength, on the field of Cappel, just as Gus- 
tavus was slain in his prime at Lutzen. Luther held fast solely to the 
sword of the spirit and abided firmly thereby, and, as he triumphed 
through that at the Diet of Worms, he stands triumphant to-day and 
realizes the inspired language of the prophet and chronicler in regard 
to David : 

" And I [the Lord] was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut 
off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto 
the name of the great men that are in the earth." 

Gustavus Adolphus, to repeat for emphasis, strove to combine re- 
ligion and ambition, piety and policy, and diplomacy and the sword, 
and when he stood highest, he fell. He seemed to realize this at the 
last and to comprehend the terrible truth, as if the light of eternity 
shone upon his spirit through the veil of mortality. When the popu- 
lation of Naumburg prostrated themselves adoringly before and about 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 445 

liim, tliis idea flashed upon his mind and he became proplietic in the 
presentiment which was realized witliin a few days. 

To demonstrate that Gustavus is not altogether regarded as a model 
of disinterestedness, consider the words of one of his greatest admirers, 
au English clergyman, B. Chapman, London, 1856, in his " History," 
vii. 191: 

" It is common fashion with German writers to attribute the inter- 
ference of Gustavus Adoli)hus in the Thirty Years' War to a grasping 
ambition; and one of the latest 'historians of that nation [Gfrorer] 
has not scrupled to say that he came to Germany as a robber.' ^ This 

* The word ^^ robber" has eluded careful search in the revised edition of Gfrorer 
of Dr. Klopp, but Gfrorer certainly emphasizes his idea that Gustavus came into 
Germany on his own account and for his own purposes, against, especially not with, 
the will of Duke Bogislaus, of Pomerania, and almost all the other princes who had 
reason to be most interested in his advent. 

Even Menzel, so lavish in his praise of Gustavus, saj's a great many hard things 
of the Swedes. He says (384) : " Peace, nevertheless, could not be concluded 
(1G41) ; France and Sweden still sought to tear the prey from each other's grasp ;" 
and (385) " Sweden solely aimed at the conversion of the German coasts of the 
Baltic into a Swedish province." He calls (302) Turenne's army a " robber band ;" 
styles (381) Konigsmark one of the boldest robbers of the day (388), who "pillaged 
the country on his own account," and Gindely (124) charges Baner with having 
amassed through plunder and left one million dollars ; an enormous fortune for the 
period; Schiller (321) states that, in 1638, "booty was his [Baner's] sole object." 
Burgus (71) (Naylor II. 406) an enemy, in opposition to all, thus eulogizes the Swedes 
as soldiers : " Constant and patient in adversity, bold and determined in battle, and 
modest and affable to the peasantry and those upon whom they were quartered." 
The strength of the Swedes was in their hardy recruits and disciplined veterans, 
led by generals trained and instructed by theory, practice, and example. The im- 
perialists, Bavarians, and Germans, generally, had nothing to compare with the 
latter. Their leaders were kinglings, princelings, and court favorites, like our own 
political humbugs and members of rings — military and administrative. Therefore 
to Germany could be applied the terrible invective of Ezekiel, " Thou land de- 
vourest up men," and the graphic first chapter of Joel, describing the successive 
desolations of Tilly's, Mansfelds, and Christian of Brunswick's bands, of the Fried- 
lander's hordes, of the merciless army of the Empire, and finally of tlie contending 
forces, Swedish, French, Bavarians, Empire, and Circles. 

The clear, accomplished, celebrated military critic, Von Clauskwitz, in his 
" Mllitarische Brief e eines Verstorbenen an seine noch lebejiden t'reiinde . . . fiir 
EingexoeHite unci Laien im Kriegsivesen, Dritte Sammlitng, Adorf, 1844, goes into a 
close comparison between the careers and their results, of Gustavus Adoljihus, Fred- 
erick the Great and Napoleon. This comparison covers many pages but can be 
summed up, briefly, as follows: von Clausewitz begins with the just remark that 
kings endowed with military capacity cannot be compared with other generals, be- 
cause they are in possession of greater power in every way and are likely to be more 
implicitly obeyed and better sustained by their subordinates. AVallensiein under- 
stood this, and with reason attributed his coming short of success on many occasions 



446 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUAETERLY. October 

grave charge has no real solidity. Not without repeated solicitations 
from the depressed and deprived among the Germans themselves, not 
until the war (through the element of Catholic aggression involved in 
it) had become, as Geijer truly observes, ' the common concern of 
Europe and mankind,' did Gustavus invade the empire. And though, 
no doubt, he expected great rewards for himself and nation, if his 
efforts in the common cause should prove successful, the nobler motives 
which prompted him to engage in it were tainted by no base cupidity. 
His expectations were founded in reason and justice. He had a right 
to look for requital — in the event of victory — for the risk he ran, for 
the great service he rendered, either from the honesty or gratitude of 
the restored, or from the spoils of those who had provoked the contest. 
Nay, more; without exposing himself justly to the charge of a greedy 
ambition, well might he have meditated the dissolution of that con- 
federacy which was no longer the result of a harmony of feelings and 
interests, and sought by a new combination of a part of the Germanic 
body under his own protectorate substantial guarantees for Protestant 
independence and peace. Various indications of such a policy, not 
absolutely determined, but roughly shaped out, to be developed and 
modified according to the course of events, and the counsel and inclina- 
tion of the Protestant states in alliance with him, will be seen in the 
following pages [of the history quoted], and especially in the account 



to his not being adequately supported. And here let it be remarked that, strange to 
say, there are only two generals in history who never had a mutiny in their armies, 
although composed of the most heterogeneous elements, and were never disobeyed 
either hy present or distant subordinates, — Hannibal and Torstenson, " the modern 
Hannibal." Few are aware that Gustavus had open mutiny in his camp at Nurem- 
berg on the 22d July, 1G32. His troops rebelled against the strict discipline which 
he attempted to enforce (Gfrorer, 767), and when he desired to lead them out against 
the enemy they refused to fight before their arrears of pay were given to them ; 
and the citizens of Nuremberg had to lend two tons of gold (two hundred thousand 
rix-dollars, equal, at least, to $1,000,000, if not $2,000,000 of to-day). Wellington 
was of opinion that Napoleon " was in more awe of his marshals than was generally 
supposed. He acted as if he was not sure of their obedience; for instance, he would 
order one of them to take another under his command, but he never ventured to tell 
the other to obey him'' (Croker Papers, i. 312) ; and he was several times positively 
disobeyed. Wellington was often disobeyed in the most startling manner. Sir Wil- 
liam Stuart imperiled the army by direct disobedience after, or during, the retreat 
from Burgos. Crawford, at times would do just as he pleased in the teeth of his 
orders, and Picton was " consistently disobedient." It was astonishing how Wel- 
lington could put up with it, unless he had to do so. Torstenson would not stand 
the slightest nonsense. He was emphatically what the Romans styled '^Vir Auctori- 
tatis" and the Greeks " A7iax Andron.'^ 



1885, THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 447 

of the king's conferences with the Council of Patricians at Nuremberg 
in the summer of 1632." 

Chapman, in citing one of the latest German historians, means 
Gfrorer (p. 1016), whose words are : " Niemand hnt Gu.slnv micli Dcufsch- 
land gerufeii. Wie ein Rdubcr isi er in unser Reich eingebrochen" — 
i.e., " No one invited Gustavus into Germany. Like a robber did he 
break into our Empire." Gfrorer has written the best Life of Gusta- 
vus Adolphus and History of the Thirty Years' War, down to the 
death of that king, which the writer has ever read or examined with 
care; not, it is true, in the original edition, but in tiie fourth, revised 
and improved by Dr. Klopp, after the death of the original author. 
In this, the direct assimilation of Gustavus to a robber is not to be 
found in the exact words quoted by Cliapman, but it is implied again 
and again. Gfrorer said (522) that Gustavus had determined on the 
invasion of Germany long before he carried his plans into execution. 
That " war he would have, and war at any price" (536), and compares 
his impulse to the ambition wliich spurred Alexander to attack Persia, 
concealing his real motives with the blinding words of religion and the 
Gospel. Gfrorer undertakes to prove it, and ag*ain and again returns 
to the subject, quoting still existing testimony. For instance, among 
manv other arguments, the Swedish party claim that Gustavus crossed 
the Baltic to deliver Duke Bogislav, of Pomerania, from the oppression 
of the Emperor, whereas Gfrorer declares, even when the king was 
about to embark, Bogislav, so far from welcoming the fact, conjured 
him in the name of Heaven to stay at home. Gustavus could not heed 
this beseeching appeal of the Pomeranian Duke — afraid of being 
ground to pieces between the upper millstone of the Imperialists and 
the nether millstone of the Swedes — to stay at home, because it was 
impossible and contrary to the only plan of operations which could 
promise eventual success. Pomerania was the inevitable Swedish mili- 
tary base. They already held Stralsund, and they needed the other 
fortresses and strong positions in the Duchy to insure their " lines of 
communication and supply," and cover their retreat in case of ultimate 
remediless reverse. Pomerania was indeed subsequently jnore than 
once their refuge, without which they might have been driven into the 
sea. So Bogislav had to receive with open arms, as friends and de- 
fenders, the self-constituted allies who, he fondly hoped, would not 
force themselves, sword in hand, upon him as such. Many of the 
most touching ejjisodes of history resolve themselves into grim jokes 
when the naked truth is revealed, when denuded of its clothing of 
arguments, its mask of hypocrisy, and its veils of deliberate lies. 



448 THE AEMY AND NAVY QUAETERLY. October 

Yet when Gfrorer, an absolute German and no more, presumes to say 
Gustavus broke in as a robber, and the eulogists of the Swede that he 
entered as a deliverer pure and simple, they both falsify facts. He came 
as neither. He came as a great king, captain, and statesman, because 
it was his true policy to do so and the end justified his calculations. 
(Naylor, II., 382.) He was to the Germans what Isaiah prophesied 
Cyrus would be for the Jews, — " called and chosen," — but nevertheless 
he was exactly what the Prophet styles such deliverers in another chap- 
ter, " a punishing-rod and an instrument of vengeance," to be broken — 
as was Gustavus — when his work was complete, although incomplete to 
his own mind. 

There is not the slightest doubt that after admitting, which is in- 
controvertible, that the origin of this most horrible of all awful wars 
was the result of Jesuit planning and teaching and inciting, it would 
not have assumed its terrific extent and form, if greed, state policy, 
individual selfishness and ambition had not grasped the opportunity to 
add fuel to the flames. Priestcraft and its pupils converted Germany 
into a Gehenna. Without them it would have been a war like our 
civil war, the "Slaveholders' Rebellion," vast and costly enough, but 
still free from the unparalleled atrocities which characterized it ; 
whereas the " Slaveholders' Rebellion" only presents hideous blotches, 
all on one side, such as Belle Isle, Libby, Anderson ville, and other prison- 
pens. What is more, cruel as were the Romanists towards the Protest- 
ants, they were equally oppressive to their own people, and set an ex- 
ample which, a Protestant regrets to say, was imitated on all sides and 
in every direction, until even the most humane found it necessary to 
"fiffht with fire." Admit that the Gothic Csesar was selfish and am- 
bitious, and even yet enough virtues must be conceded to him to justify 
his elevation to the highest rank among the great and good men in all 
ages. His great fault was that he did not at the opportune moment 
shut his eyes to the lure of ambition and solely remember that the 
Protestants of Germany, as Gfrorer himself admits, yearned for his ap- 
pearance among them as a saviour, as the Jews looked forward to the 
coming of their Messiah. Had he been that Deliverer, pure and 
simple, he would have gone to Vienna after Leipzig and have indeed 
delivered his co-religionists of the Austrian Hereditary States from the 
horrible oppression to which they had been subjected through the 
Jesuits and their plans and pupils. 

Butler, in " Hudibras," has four witty, and, at the same time, truth- 
ful lines in this connection : 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 449 

" For none but Jesuits have commission 
To preach the Faith with ammunition, 
And propagate the cliurch with powder; 
Their founder was a blown-up soldier," — 

their founder Ignatius Loyola, — who, originally a courtier and soldier, 
aspiring to the love of the highest lady in the land (his queen it is 
said), having been crippled by a wound in the leg at the Siege of 
Pampeluna, in 1521, became transformed from a man of the world 
into the astutest priest and religious organizer in the world. 

In an imaginary conversation between Mars and Minerva — whom 
Homer, by the way, makes superior in military gifts and powers to the 
god — the goddess asks if the war-god had not severely blamed Gusta- 
vus for not having marched directly upon Vienna after his victory at 
Leipzig (I. p. 10), and Mars does not give a positive answer. After- 
wards he goes on to excuse the king, even against such high authority, 
that it is impossible not to cite, again and again, the opinion of Oxen- 
stiern, who held to it firmly throughout his life, and yet it is well 
known that the chancellor wjis by no means an enthusiastic man. 

In the action of Dirschau, Gustavus, reconnoitering, was wounded 
in the arm. Oxenstiern remonstrating respecting his reckless exposure 
on this and other occasions, the king replied, " You are of too cold a 
temper;" or, "You are so cold, upsetting my plans when most pre- 
pared for a bold expedition." " Possibly," replied the great chancel- 
lor, " but if my ice did not sometimes cool your fire, your Majesty 
might have been consumed before this;" or, "I am so, if I did not 
throw cold water on your Majesty's fire, you would long since have 
been reduced to ashes." As to the feasibility of the march upon 
Vienna after Leipsic L, the admission of the king himself is all-suf- 
ficient. The battle was fought 7th September, 1631. On the 14th 
Gustavus wrote to his sister, " The enemy has been so much destroyed 
that WE COULD GO UNHINDERED WHERE WE WISHED." This language 
is too clear and decided to admit of question. 

Of the three great modern captains. Von Clausewitz considers 
Frederic the Great entitled to the palm, because he attained the object, 
at which he aimed from the beginning. Crowned with the laurels of 
victory Gustavus certainly receivetl a very serious check when he came 
in contact with Wallenstein, and who would have eventually remained 
master of the field is one of the unsolved questions of history, — insol- 
uble because Gustavus^ fell a victim to his own rashness or to assas- 

^ If the careful singling out of a redoubtable adversary with the intention of 
putting him out of the way surreptitiously is assassination then was Gustavus 
Vol. I.— No. 4. 29 



450 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

sination at Lntzen, and Wallenstein was soon after assassinated in turn 
by an ungrateful master whom he had served too well. As for Napo- 
leon, he actually overstepped the limits of the possible, and he was an 
utter failure. Frederic never once transgressed or passed beyond the 
limits of his abilities. He fully compreliended and steadily kept in 
view the objective of his original plans, and as "old Fritz" is the only 
one who brought his work to a perfect conclusion, to him must be 
conceded the honor of being the greatest commander of modern times, 
and he deserves the credit the more because he contended triumphantly 
and longer against greater odds and difficulties than the others. 

As an evidence of the effect of the glamour of a great name upon 
all but a very few, the majority accepting its subscriptum as an incon- 
trovertible authority upon the minds of the vast majority of even 
thinking people, take the utterances of Napoleon Bonaparte, as re- 
corded by Count Montholon, in regard to Turenne. Napoleon cites 
Turenne as one of the seven great military exemplars of all times. 
There was nothing like genius ever evinced by Turenne. He was the 
soul of cold-blooded calculation. Napoleon admits this (M. iii. 57). 
Comparing the conduct of Marshal Ney in 1815 with that of Turenne 
in 1650, he says, " Turenne acted from calculation and moved by the 
ambition of ruling the councils of the regency, when, forgetting his 
oath to Anne of Austria, and declaring himself in favor of the opposite 
party, he marched upon Paris. Ney did nothing similar to this." 

Again (M. iii. 241-42), he enunciates another dictum in which it 
can be proved he makes as many mistakes as there are sentences. 

Turenne made j?tie campaigns before the treaty of Westphalia. ... "In 1646 
he set out for Mayence, descended the left bank of the Rhine as far as Wesel, where 
he crossed that river and ascended the right bank till he reached the Lahn ; formed 
a junction with the Swedish army [as if it belonged to him !] passed the Danube 
and the Lech, and thus performed a march of two hundred leagues across an 
enemy's country. When arrived on the Lech, he had all his troops united under 
his own command, having, like Csesar and Hannibal, abandoned his communica- 
tions to his allies, or rather, having consented to separate himself for a time from 
his reserves and his communications, reserving only one place of depot. There 
was nothing extraordinary in this. Armies were very small and had to live from 
hand to mouth, and Menzel considers the Turenne's army a ' band of robbers.' " 

In 1648 he passed the Rhine at Oppenheim, formed a junction with the Swe- 

Adolphus most assuredly the victim of such a crime. Maurice de la Chatre, in 
his " Histoire des Papes," Paris, 1843, writing evidently without bias, for he con- 
demns Wallenstein while painting the character of Ferdinand II. in repulsive 
colors, says, Yol. IX, page 13, " Gustave Adolphe et Wallenstein se recontrerent 
dans les plaines de Lutze7i, et VivreTent une bataille ta-rible d&us\eiue\\e\eroi de 
Suede succomber victmie de la trahison.'^ 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 451 

dish army at Ilanau, advanced along the Rcdnitz and retrograded on the Danube, 
which he crossed at Dillingen ; defeated Montecuculi at Cusniarshausen, passed the 
Lech at liain, and the Isar at Freising; the court of Bavaria became alarmed for 
its safety, and quitted Munich. He next fixed his headquarters at Muhldorf, which 
he laid under contribution, and ravaged the whole of the electorate to punish the 
elector for his insincerity." 

Now to criticise the great Corsican ! 

After the annihilating overthrow of the French and Weimarians at Tuttlin- 
gen, 24th November, 4th Deceml)er, 1G43, Tureiine was sent to take command of 
the French army of Germany. This was in December, 1643. If he accomplished 
anything worthy of note his successes seem to have made little impres--ii>n on the 
French ministry since, in July, 1G44, he was superseded by the Duke d'Enghien 
(the great Conde) and served under him until the troops went into winter quarters, 
October-December, 1644. In March, 1645, Turenne, left to himself, again ad- 
vanced into the Palatinate, and on the 2d-3d May he was surprised by the Bavarian 
Field-Marshal Mercy, and, according to existing circumstances, was whipped as 
disgracefully as Kantzau at Tuttlintren, in 1643. Mercy took almost the whole of 
the French infantry, ten guns, and all the baggage. Shortly after he was joined 
by four thousand Hessians under Koiiigsmark— la man of royal mark, a king 
among generals of ordinary calibre. With this assistance Turenne forced Mercy 
to raise the siege of Kircham (Kirchheim). His defeat at Mariendahl or Mergent- 
heim, and whatever he did or did not do, subsequently resulted, much to his morti- 
fication, in his second supersedure, 1st July, 1645, by the Duke d'Enghien. On the 
3d August, 1645, occurred the battle of Allerlieim, or Nordlingen second. At the 
crisis of this battle, Mercy, who considered the victory secure, was killed and the 
French enjoyed the glory of a drawn battle like Antietam. (Koch thinks Mercy was 
killed by the accidental shot of one of his own men, as is claimed, incorrectly how- 
ever, to have been the case with Stonewall Jackson, and undoubtedly was true of 
the desperate wounding of Longstreet. The Third Corps A. of the P. pretty clearly 
prove Jackson was killed by a volley of one of its Regiments, the First Massachu- 
setts Volunteers.) To prove that this could not have been any decided success for 
the French, the opposing forces continued facing each other not more than five or 
six leagues apart, for over two and a half months, until 17th October, 1646. All 
this time, Turenne was responsible for the paralysis, since he was in full command, 
the Duke d'Enghien having left the army after winning the field of Allerhcim. 

This brings the story down to 1646, when Napoleon commences his dictum. 
Turenne did nothing of note in this campaign by himself, for he was united with 
the Swedish Field-Marshal AVrangel, who was always acting under the inspiration 
of Torstenson, if Wrangel was not all the time coached or dry-nursed by that 
great captain. In regard to Torstenson, Turenne exhausts eulogy in exalting his 
superior abilities ; not that Torstenson needs his approval. For Turenne to en- 
dorse Torstenson recalls the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians (II. Cor., iii. 1), 
" Need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commen- 
dation from you ?" Turenne and Wrangel were likewise assisted by Konigsmark, 
who ranks with the ablest commanders developed by the Thirty Years' War, and 
with less means accomj)lished a great deal more than Turenne ever did. 

What is more, Wrangel waived the chief command in favor of Turenne as a 
mere matter of policy, to propitiate the vanity of the French court, for Turenne 
had brought up only nine thousand men; Konigsmark five thousand; and the 
Hessians four thousand six hundred ; and Wrangel had twenty-three thousand. 
The fact is the allies had pretty much everything their own way, since the Imperial 



452 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY, October 

commander-in-chief, the Archduke Leopold, did not dare to venture a battle and 
"buried himself under accumulated earthworks," — as Birney said of the heavy 
artillery regiments in the Wilderness — which the allies did not deem it advisable 
to attack. This conduct of the emperor's brother so disgusted the Elector of Ba- 
varia that he entered into an armistice with the allies. This campaign of 1646 is 
the first mentioned by Napoleon as indicative of Turenne's greatness. If Turenne 
did win any laurels he must assuredly share them with Torstenson who planned, 
and Wrangel and Konigsmark, who had so much to do with the execution. 

In 1647 Turenne was recalled to the command in Flanders, and in the course 
of the summer lost, through his own or his (the French) government's injustice to 
them, the greater part of the Weimarian troops, who went back to the Swedes, to 
whom they originally and rightfully belonged. 

In December, 1647, as the Elector of Bavaria had broken his pledges in taking 
up arms again in favor of the emperor, Turenne was ordered back into Germany, 
where he once more united with the Swedes and their confederates under Wrangel 
and Konigsmark, and advanced again in May into Bavaria. 

Napoleon says that Turenne defeated Montecuculi at Cusmarshausen. This is 
an error. The Allies defeated Melander at Z(S)usharshausen. Montecuculi was a 
mere subordinate, a general of cavalry, and Gronsfeld, who commanded the Bava- 
rian contingent, and Montecuculi stopped the victorious career of the Allies and 
saved the remnants of an army which Melander had nearly sacrificed by his mis- 
management. There was now no Imperial army fit to resist the Allies until Pic- 
colomini got back from the Low Countries and gathered together a new army and 
forced the Allies in turn to retreat. In the midst of a " Campaign of Manoeuvres" 
(ironical), peace ended hostilities, — a peace due in a great measure to an independent, 
bold, and happy stroke of Konigsmark. 

Now it would bother even Napoleon to demonstrate conclusively to a competent 
critic what great genius Turenne showed between 1644, when he first held command 
in Germany, and during the four years which intervened before the war closed. He 
was subordinate in two indecisive victories, and he was surprised and utterly cut up 
in the only conflict in which he was exercising an independent chief command. It 
has been observed again and again that "even a great general may be defeated; 
but there is no general of any capacity whatever who can find an excuse for allow- 
ing himself to be surprised." Koch shows up Turenne and justly disposes of the 
French claims to doubtful victories, at best drawn battles. Without the great Swedish 
Leaders, in Camp and Court, the French would have been nowhere in this war. 

What is more, Turenne and the Swedes had no great general opposed to them 
in the campaigns, or three years cited, by Napoleon. 

It suited Napoleon's policy to compare himself to Charlemagne (Charles I., 
Karl der Grosse, Charles the Great) and to Louis XIV., the magnificent, claiming 
the one as a French emperor, and both as French sovereigns. He chose to forget 
that Charlemagne was one of the great Germans and not a Frenchman at all, and 
that the career of Louis XIV. terminated anything but gloriously in spite of Tu- 
renne, — almost as bad as his own did for him. Turenne was one of the ablest of 
the generals of Louis XIV., but to justify his appearing in the same class with 
Alexander, Hannibal, CiBsar, Gustavus, and Frederic, requires more proof than 
truth can furnish, or even the dictum of Napoleon can establish. 

And now let us examine the claims to greatness on the part of the other six 
of the Great Seven. Alexander the First, like Sesostris, inherited an incomparable 
army and very able generals from great fathers, Philip of Macedon and Ameno- 
phis III. In a large measure the same was the case with Frederic. Napoleon 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 453 

Bonaparte received into liis control " tlic magic sword of the Revolution, which 
would cut in the hands of any one, would cut of itsflf," veteran troops and officers 
inspired witli the loftiest enthusiasm, highest amhition, perfect confidence in them- 
selves and their cause. Caesar, who almost touches Hannihal in the exceeding alti- 
tude of his powerful individuality, was certainly the architect of his own fortunes ; 
but then he had Rome's constant, courageous commonwealth behind him, its re- 
sources, administration, armament, as a basis, as a reinforcement and as a reserve. 
Hannibal had to make and remake his armies ; to supply them from the word 
"Go"; to exchange their imperfect arms for better; to find, extract, and supply 
food, in fact, everything needed to the moment and occasion. No greater com- 
mander or citizen, soldier, or Soffcte (civil-executive) ever lived. Gustavus, like 
Frederic, was a wise, despotic king, and a great general. Neither Iliinnibal nor 
the "modern Hannibal," Torstcnson, were kings, but simply servants of states, the 
one niggardly from policy or politics, the other from poverty ; both had to crush 
mutinies once and for all, to organize their forces, and reorganize forces as fast as 
they were expended. How Hannibal ruled with such perfectness is an enigma, 
unsolved and unsolvable. His secret died with him. How Torstenson administered 
and carried on war is a problem which has puzzled experts, and none as yet have 
found the demonstration of it, or to the investigation of his system and campaigns 
have been able to append the triumphant Q. E. D. 

Restricted, as it seems I am always to be, as to the space accorded, and 
at times for preparation, — for it takes more time to condense than to 
conceive, it is necessary to confine the attention to certain considerations 
which are undoubtedly the least known. First, the slaughter upon 
the battle-field, enormous as it was, sinks into insignificance before the 
de})opulation occasioned by absolute murder, through famine, and 
through consequent endemic and epidemic diseases. The second matter 
of astonishment is the enormous sums of money, almo.st inconceivable 
Avhen added up, squeezed out of the country, day by day, month by 
month, year by year, and, sometimes, more than once a day, by suc- 
cessive visitations of armed extortion and civil requisition. Writers 
stand appalled at the vast contributions levied l)y Wallenstein, and 
argue against fact, that the figures are incorrect. Conceding, however, 
that mistakes may have been made, he was only one of many who 
robbed systeiuatically. He ac<juired millions for himself when a 
silver dollar had a j)iircliasing value equal to a double-eagle to-day and 
required millions to maintain his tens of thousands of wolves, who 
were always hungering and never satisfied. 15an6r, who is not generally 
charged with cupidity, left a fortune of R-\. 1,000.000, equivalent to 
at least SlO,000,000 of to-day, and after twenty-eight years of this 
plundering, Wrangcl looted a single town to the extent of Rx. 4,000,000, 
which is said to have represented an equivalent within the present 
century of .^40,000,000. All this goes to j)rove what immense hoards 
derived from industry, economy, and even parsimony must have bem 



454 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

piling up in the countries thus raided for thirty years, which had not 
only to pay for raising, paying, maintaining, supplying, and rewarding 
vast nativ^e armies but the successive invasions of Danes, Spaniards, 
Swedes, French, Transylvanians, Cossacks, and other barbarians who 
either temporarily or continuously occupied one or another portion of 
Germany, and shot through it to and fro like a shuttle through the 
\varp. 

Third, the armies of this war, however small in comparison with 
the armies of the present century, were like the small body of the 
Octopus in comparison to the mass and extent of its tentacles and their 
powers of injury to a peaceable population. They resembled Eastern 
armaments in which the fighting force is to the servants and camp-fol- 
lowers as the meat of the peach-pit to the fruit itself. Even under the 
administration of Gustavus, while Swedish discipline was at its best, and 
loose women were prohibited, soldiers were permitted to have their 
wives and children in the camp, so that the number of mouths to be 
fed almost exceeds belief. Afterwards when morality ceased to be a 
consideration, loose women were tolerated to an almost inconceivable 
extent. Brigaded under a regular hierarchy of control, and according 
to regulated grades of respectability, there was no such thing as shame 
about it. It was recognized and regulated, and those who are curious 
on the subject will find ample information in Freytag's " Vergangen- 
heit," and in technical treatises on army life and administration of the 
period. The Germans were bad enough, and the French worse, but 
the Spaniards almost inconceivably bad, with this difference that some- 
times in a playful mood they ripped up the unfortunates supplied to 
them. In the latter years of the war, the armies resembled migratory 
Tartar hordes.* 

8 Between the armies of the Thirty Years' War — in fact, all the armies of that 
and previous wars subsequent to the decay of Koman discipline, with the exception 
of the Swedish and English, proper, and those of the present era — one great differ- 
ence presents itself. The former were accompanied into the field by not only wives 
and mistresses, but children, and worse characters of both sexes. Sometimes the 
number of effectives in a regiment scarcely exceeded that of the women attached 
to or dependent upon them. In 1620, when a regiment, newly raised, started out 
from the place where it was "mustered in," it numbered three thousand men and 
two thousand females. 

In the last decade of the war, the camp-followers rose to threefold and four- 
fold the numbers of those who bore arms regularly. Freytag in his " Vergangen- 
heit" presents a startling picture of this condition of affairs, 

As an instance of this constitution of an army, worthy of the days of Xerxes, 
at Susmarshausen, the strength of the Imperial army, proper, was thirty-three 
thousand eight hundred soldiers, whereas that of the women, children, and camp- 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 455 

To sura up the whole matter, the literature of the Thirty Years' 
War is as worthy of study as the incidents of which it treats are full 

followers reached the startling number of one hundred and twenty-seven thousand. 
General Grons'feld writes, 31st March, 1648, that in the two armies (Imperialist and 
Bavarian) there were certainly more than one hundred and eighty thousand men, 
women, and children ; . . . provisions were issued for forty thousand every twenty- 
four hours; how the remaining one hundred and forty thousand persons were to 
live [except by robbery] passed his comprehension." Even as early as IC.^2, when 
Wallenstein advanced against Nuremberg, his march was closed by upwards of 
four thousand wagons, — fifteen thousand women, — according to the estimate of 
Burgos ; and that chronicler supposes the number of sutlers and servants to have 
been nearly equal (King, 180). Such an aggregation made the march of an army 
nothing better than a visitation of locusts, with the difl'erence in favor of the insects, 
since the latter confined their consumption to the vegetation, which was bad enough, 
whereas these human hordes consumed or carried off everything else. In a few days 
a comparatively comfortable district with its private or farm dwellings, steadings, 
outbuildings, etc., etc., would be converted into a jierfect waste, just as it is stated 
that an invading column in 1780 entered the Schoharie and Mohawk valleys — then 
for the period well settled and cultivated — and, after it marched off, left nothing 
but the soil and ashes and stone walls to mark where buildings had stood. 

Such a state of things has always been common in Eastern countries, even 
down to the present day. 

"It is related by the monks that so sure were they [the Spanish-Saracens] of 
success and of subduing the whole country [France] that it appeared as if the Mos- 
lem army of occupation [which was defeated at Tours by Charles Martel, 3d-4th Oc- 
tober, A.D. 732] had come to stay permanently, for they brought with them their 
wives and childen, flocks and herds, and all their belongings. It was an invasioa 
with a purpose." 

For instance, in April, 1799, the English General Harris, in addition to his 
thirtj-five thousand fighting force, was accompanied by one hundred and twenty 
thousand non-combatants. The proportion of the latter in Asiatic armies, as a 
rule, has always been at least four ineffectives to each real effective fighting unit. 
("Famous and Decisive Battles," by Capt. Charles King, U.S.A., page 180.) 

" At the present" (Brockelhurst " Mexico To- Day" 1883, p. 256) " the Mexican 
army, twenty-five thousand strong, has no commissariat; crowds of women follow 
the troops wherever they move, and provide the soldiers with food." 

It was such an Imperial and Bavarian horde of mingled iron and clay of over 
one hundred and sixty thousand human beings of both sexes and of all conditions 
that the Allies, Swi'des, French, and Associate Germans — doubtless themselves very 
much encumbered with useless adjuncts — caught m Jfuffrmite delicto astraddle of the 
small but not fordable river Zusam. In this affair Z(S)u.smabshau3en, the Imperial 
general, Melander, or Holzapfel, very much resembled a man who goes out to shear 
and comes back shorn, or starts out to hunt a bear and is hunted instead and hugged 
to death. The river Zusam, in this di.«trict, continually winds like an « or 5 orS. 

To cover Augsburg, Melander had sufficient strategy to perceive the best 
position to be assumed to protect the passage of tlie Danube, was at Zusmarshausen. 
Suddenly he heard the Allies were about to cross the river at Lauingen further up, 
and instead of remaining quiet at a central point to observe and strike, he marched 
off to Olottwang. Finding at that place that he had been misinformed, and that 



456 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

of interest and instruction. "There were giants in those days." As 
statesmen, Oxenstiern and Richelieu have never been surpassed. The 



instead of catching the Allies napping — as Grant expected to surprise theKebels on 
the morning of the 26th April, 1862, at yhiloh (as Browne says, page 137, in hia 
"Four Years in Secessia") — he was himself surprised.* 

Discovering his mistake too late, Melander hurried back to Z(S)usmarshausen 
and got half his army across the Zusam when Wrangel and Turenne were upon 
him, catching him "astraddle of the fence," just as Lee might have occasioned 
fearful losses to Burnside, while falling back across the Eappahannock, after Fred- 
ricksburg 1st, in December, 1862, and Meade should, at least, have caught Lee at 
Williamsport and Falling Waters, in July, 1863, and again at the Eappahannock, in 
the autumn of the same year. Gronsfeld with his Bavarians were just about across 
when Melander galloped back to the rear-guard to make some dispositions to arrest 
disorder and strive to avert defeat. As he reached the scene of confusion, Monte- 
cuculi's cavalry were just routed, and the other troops became "clubbed" and 
driven en masse without his being able to effect anything to restore order among 



* Quite a number of battles in the course of the world's history, resemble this last collision 
of importance at Z(S)usmarshausen during the Thirty Years' War, in more than one of its 
phases. 

The first and most remarkable is Timoleon's victory at the Crimessus, in Sicily, B.C. 343; 
when the good and great Greek, with about 10,000 men, defeated some 70,000 Carthaginian 
mercenaries. This overthrow, due to a variety of circumstances, all traceable to natural 
causes, seems scarcely less miraculous than the discomfiture of the host of Midian by Gideon, 
or that of the army of Mesha, King of Moab, by King Jehoshaphat of Judab, and Jehoram of 
Israel ; if the facts of these cases could be laid open to critical investigation. They were due 
to panics to which all ancient and Eastern armies are subject. 

Are they more remarkable than Marathon, B.C. 490, achieved in the face of day ; or 
Hemmingsted, a.d. 1500, in the Ditmarsh district of Denmark, by a mere handful of brave 
peasants, over a Royal army of 30,000,- or Narva, 30th November, 1700, when 8000 Swedes 
under Charles XII., advancing in the face of a snowstorm and a numerous artillery, defeated 
80,000 Russians in an entrenched camp, garnished with 150 guns? What is to be said of the 
" Castlcbar Races," 1796, or as to Plattsburgh, 11th October, 1814? On the latter occasion 
between 12 and 14,000 British veterans, fresh from their glories under Wellington in Spain, 
after defeating superior numbers of veteran French under Napoleon's ablest lieutenants, aban- 
doned field and fame and wounded, in the face of a few American regulars and not over three 
thousand militia, almost without cover. In the Class of Battles to which Z(s)usmarshausen 
belongs, may be included in some respects more or less resemblant, the Persians at the Zaab, 
after Arbela, b.c. 331 ; Hannibal's victory at the Trebbia, B.C. 218; (Evesham, 1265, "Art of 
War in the Middle Ages," 52?) AVallace at Sterling on the Tweed, 1298; Bloreheath, Stafi"ord 
Co., England, 1459, (See "Art of War in the Middle Ages," p. 120), exactly as to principle; 
("Drowning of the Hungarians after the Battle of the AVhite Mountain," 1620) Prince Eugene's 
utter defeat of the Turks at Zenta, on the Theiss, Hungary, 1696, after Pultowa, 8th July, 1708. 

Sobieski's victories on the Plain of Nimiron, in Gallicia, whence he drove the Turks 
across the Dniester, Stryi, and Schewitz, 1672; Suworrow's Rymnik; Blenheim on the French 
right, 1704 (Gudmarde might have been made a partial or complete disaster, to the Allies while 
crossing the Schelde, 11th July, 1708, if the French had had a general of any real ability at 
their head), Campo Santo, 8th February, 1743; Ratisbon, 1809; Aspern, 1809; Beresina, 
1812; Katsbach, 1813; Leipsic, after the conclusion of the last of the Three days' "Battle of 
the Nations," 1813; Ostrolenka, Poland, 26th May, 1832. A number of other instances might 
be added did time permit their consideration. 



1885. THE LITERATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 457 

former, Pope Urban VIII. — an able man himself — regarded as a being 
superior in degree to humanity. Under some aspects, he was one of 
the most extraordinary men that ever lived. After tiie death of Gus- 
tavus, he had to pilot the siiip of state amid reefs and shoals and swift 
tides and eddies almost equal to whirlpools. He conned the craft 
safely through. After Nordlingen, he was in command of the same 
vessel, dismasted amid a cyclone, and he brought it triumphantly into 
port. No prime minister ever had a harder task. QSdipus himself 
was not called upon to solve, to ordinary experience, a more unsolvable 
riddle. Salvius, another Swedish representative, was pitted against the 
greatest diplomatists of Europe and carried his points. As to the gen- 
erals they have been sufficiently dwelt upon. They were wortliy chil- 
dren of Thor, the ideal leader of the Northern races ; perhaps one of the 
few mortals justly deified by superstition, if ajwtheosis could be justified 
in any case. The " Theatrum Europseum," equivalent to one of our finest 
illustrated periodicals, is a marvel of painstaking collaboration. It is 
the copious source of every sort of information in regard to the period. 
Our " Rebellion Record" was conceived with the same idea, but is as 
inferior in comparison in value as copper to gold. The battle and siege 
plans in the " Theatrum" are unique. Without them nothing would be 
known trustworthily of any of the important collisions and sieges. 
The maps for the period are excellent. Chemnitz and a few other 
writers constitute the authorities to which every historian must resort. 
Without them, any one attempting to write on this war would be a 

the Imperial regiments, proper, or hold them up to their work. The Elector of 
Bavaria subsequently charged certain of their Colonels with cowardice. At this 
juncture, a bullet struck Melander in the body, and with a last exhortation to iiis 
broken troops, he fell mortally wounded from his saddle. 

It was here almost as it was to be at Aughrim, 1G89, after St. Ruth was killed. 
All was inevitably lost there, before Sarsfield (Lord Lucan) could gather up the 
reins of command. Gronsfeld, who had gotten across with almost all tho Bava- 
rians, posted them to defend the river, but soon discovered that unless he destroyed 
the bridge his own force would be annihilated as well as the other half of the army, 
the Imperialists, who were still on the west shore. It was a type in 1648 of what 
occurred at Leipsic in 1813. The premature destruction of the bridge and the 
subsequent heroic resistance of Ulric Wurtemberg, saved a portion of the Imperial 
army, but delivered up the rest to the swords of the Allies. The result of this 
German (1648) Little Sailor's Creek of (6th April, 1865), delivered over Bavaria 
to the invader, and they made the most of their victory. Just as the sovereign and 
Elector Maximilian abandoned his dominions and subjects to the Swedes under 
Gustavus Adolphus, in 1632, just so, again, he repeated his flight to Salzburg, the 
capital of the Archbishopric of that name, leaving everything a prey to the irrup- 
tion which his own duplicity, bigotry, and cruelty had brought thus again and 
again upon his unhappy people. 



458 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUAETERLY. October 

mariner at sea without compass and charts. As a study for everything 
but strategy — which was, perhaps, precluded by circumstances — for 
grand tactics, for tactics, for logistics, in the most comprehensive sense, 
for demand and supply, for marches, for everything pertaining to the 
carrying on of war, the raising of armies, the feeding, the furnishing, 
and the figliting them, there are no such lessons to be learned from any 
similar terra of years as from 1620 to 1648, After the peace of West- 
phalia (1648), war continued, here or there, almost without cessation, 
but there was very little scientific improvement until the time of Fred- 
eric the Great; and although enormous armies were brought into the 
field, until the great Hohenzollern arose, science was under an eclipse. 
In his strategical acuteness of vision Napoleon ranked very high, but in 
no other way. To him cannot be traced a single step in advance, such 
as characterize the daybreak of Gustavus and of Frederic. It may 
seem almost a paradox to conclude with an assertion so startling as this 
which follows: the four years of the great American contest for the 
suppression of "the Slaveholders' Rebellion," developed more novel- 
ties in the combination and applications of the sciences and arts of 
peace as coadjutors to the arts and sciences of war, demonstrating that 
the useful may be made the handmaid of destruction and invention, 
the best servants of force, than any like period of hostilities in the his- 
tory of the world. With the impetus then and there given, war en- 
tered as to ta(;tics, arms, and everything inseparably connected with 
it, into, as it were, a new plane of existence. 

That the views expressed in this article have been strongly corrob- 
orated, can be proved from recent works which have appeared of late 
years since different national archives were thrown open to investiga- 
tion ; Professor Ward in his Lectures on the " House of Austria in 
the Thirty Years' War," and Koch's " History of the German Empire 
during the Reign of Ferdinand III.," etc. It is only very lately that 
historians have appeared, who were not absolute champions of the re- 
ligious doctrines they professed. With the abating of intolerance, due 
rather to skepticism or indifference than to charity, truth has come to 
the front. 

Professor Ward is very clear and very just, although he does deal 
slashing blows to those who deserve it. Towards Wallenstein he is in 
so far just, in that he shows that in getting rid of him, his only great 
general, the emperor committed the great error which gave to the 
enemies of his realm and religion, victory in the end ; that Wallenstein 
understood Gustavus Adolphus, and that the Swedish hero was by him, 
" the Friedlander," drawn away from his own plans to act as Wallen- 



1885. THE LITEEATURE OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 459 

stein intendetl. As to Gnstaviis, Ward makes it clear that, from the 
first, he intended to have a hand in the German war; whatever may 
have been the original impulse or extent of his aims, "Gustavus Adol- 
phus — of this there remains no doubt — aspired to no less a prize than 
the Imperial crown." " The sack of Magdeburg — which, even were its 
captors freed from every stain of criminality, would remain a monstrous 
political blunder — threw Saxony into his arms; the victory of Breiten- 
feld placed the fate of the empire in his power. Then, had he marched 
upon Vienna, it must have fallen. And so must the same city have 
fallen into the hands of tlie victors of Sadowa, and so must Rome into 
those of Hannibal after Caniiic. But, whatever we may think of the 
Prussians of our own day, neither Hannibal nor Gustavus were politi- 
cians of the event." The first complaint of Gustavus against Ferdi- 
nand III., the exclusion of his ambassador from the conferences at 
Lubec, was a manufactured grievance. " The object of Gustavus 
Adolphus was obviously to be insulted." The cases of his represen- 
tative and that of Benjamin Franklin were identical. Both were treated 
most disrespectfully, Salvius by the Imperial Commissioners, Franklin 
by the English Ministers, and both lived to play a principal part in 
the humiliation of the powers to whom they were previously objects of 
discourtesy almost amounting to contempt. 

Koch is the first historian who gives a fair account of this conflict 
at Susmarshausen, which is generally styled no better than a bloody 
skirmish, and is more worthy the title of a battle than most engagements 
which are classed as such. In a measure he excuses Melander, and 
shows that the fighting lasted over nine hours and was lively and 
bloody, adding that Melander's career had an unfortunate but glorious 
termination. Considering the fact that this general was a rigid Calvin- 
ist, and that a bigoted Romanist emperor made him commander-in- 
chief of his army, is excellent proof that he must have possessed and 
displayed unusual military ability, which by one historian at least has 
been claimed for him, 



460 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 



THE ACTUAL AND OSTENSIBLE CONDITION OF THE RUS- 
SIAN CAVALRY. 

By H. VON Dewall, Rittmeisler a la suite oi the Old Mark Ulan Regiment 
No. 16, instructor at the Military School, Potsdam. 

(Translated from the Jahrbucher fur die Deutsche Armee und Marine by 
Stanislaus Remak, late First Lieutenant Fifth U. S. Artillery.) 

It will be remembered how animated a discussion was maintained 
not long ago in daily and technical periodicals with regard to the 
question whether, in the event of a war with Russia, the menacing of 
our Eastern frontiers or even an interference with our arrangements for 
mobilization might be efficiently warded off* inasmuch as the Russian 
cavalry could pour itself forth upon East and West Prussia, as well as 
over Silesia, before we could make suitable dispositions to prevent it. 

The Russian cavalry possesses an organization similar to our own 
in so far, in that in a condition of peace it closely approximates its war 
strength ; so that independently of the period requisite for the instruc- 
tion of recruits, it is enabled to leave its garrisons in a few days, — in 
part, perhaps even in a few hours. In a certain sense, it has, indeed, 
an advantage, as compared with ours, as the dispositions with regard 
to its assignment and incorporation, necessary in war and especially for 
the purposes of the great operations, are already met in a state of peace. 
When we moreover bear in mind that the great majority of its di- 
visions are distributed in the Western provinces, in part in the very 
frontier territories, while the remainder are suitably located along the 
railway lines, the significance of the question above propounded will 
appear in no degree lessened and a ready explanation will be found of 
the fact that a keen eye is kept on the part of the Germans upon the 
Russian cavalry, which, quite regardless of its tactically cavaleristic^ 
value or the want of it, is calculated, in view of its great masses alone, 
to play an important part in future wars. That this part was not a 
conspicuously prominent one in the last Turkish war, is due to circum- 

* The word is adopted from the original. Repeatedly employed in the further 
progress of the article, it carries within itself its meaning, which could not other- 
wise be rendered without a somewhat labored circumlocution ; nor then always, 
without detriment to the adequate forcibility of expression of the precise thought 
intended to be conveyed. — Translator. 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 461 

stances, the more detailed explanation of which wonld lead us beyond 
the puqwrt of this paper ; but the plains of the Vistula and the 
Nienien arc conducive, in other fashion than the mountainous regions 
of the ]?alkan peninsula, to the active participation of the mounted 
troops in the great battles, in which it may be demonstrated that the 
cavalry can yet cooperate in the achievement of decisive results there, 
as well as in the service of the strategical operations before and after. 
If anywhere, the Russian cavalry can there demonstrate what it can 
achieve; if the aims, which it has heretofore affected and still affects, 
be the correct ones, and if the expectations at the present time formed 
of it by the people and by the leaders of the Russian armies, be 
justified. There will the greatest masses of horsemen in the world 
contend with one another; there Avill be found the opportunity to bring 
our ancient knightly arm anew in good stead, to show that without it 
the great armies of the present era are inadequate colossi and not only 
that, but also to prove to the dismayed infantry, that the breech-loader 
can yet be conquered, if only the cavalry shall have remained as of 
yore and shall ground its attacks upon those principles, which afore- 
time have been taught us under the aegis of the great Frederick, by a 
Sevdlitz and a Zieten. The time of peace and inactivity, which ensued 
after that period of highest fame, cannot be to us a sign of incipient 
relaxation, but only a time of collected deliberate readiness and expec- 
tation. The ban is now broken, that resteil upon us. This is the 
avowed tactical creed of the German cavalryman ! 

And the Russian? He boasts of his numbers and relies — he, the 
trooper, — upon his musket ! The numbers, yes, these are considerable ; 
doubly as great as ours ! But are these masses, over whom he holds 
sway, filled with the same spirit, which is solicitously nourished and 
cherished in our horsemen? Were this the case, the solution of a 
knotty problem would undoubtedly stand in our way. But it is not 
so and cannot be so, if horse and sabre and lance arc to be made sub- 
servient to, nay, are to give way to, the fiie-arm. 

Already a.s long ago as at the time of the Franco-German war, a 
revolution became manifest in Russia in the views upon the employ- 
ment of the cavalry; the experience, which it was thought had been 
gained in the confiict with the Turks, gave this new impulse; the 
])ossibility of the practical success of cavalry attacks against the fire- 
arms of the day appeared to be beset with perplexing doubts ; and 
continually greater and greater force was acquired by the tendency to 
gravitate towards the belief, that the fire-arm alone could restore to the 
cavalry what it had lost — i.e., that it could only yet hope to operate 



462 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

with unqualified success if the rapidity of the horse were united with 
the readiness of fire of the infantry and that, therefore, these two 
desirable elements must be incorporated with one another. Thus all 
these years are filled up with a succession of important changes in 
organization, which constantly tended to deprive the cavalry regiments 
of their character as regiments of horsemen and sought to remodel 
them into a body of troops, which should be in the position of rivaling 
the infantry, but which, in the natural order of things, in proportion 
to the growth of confidence in their rifles, were bound to suffer in 
cavaleristic peculiarities. With the transformation of the regiments 
of ulans and hussars, attached to the fourteen European cavalry divi- 
sions, into dragoons,^ which ensued after the close of the autumn 
manoeuvres of 1882, this labor of re-organization came to a close for 
the time being, and it was hoped that now, at last, a body of cavalry 
adapted to present demands had been secured. 

From this alone we would be already enabled to determine the 
spirit with which it is proposed in the future to cause the cavalry to 
be indoctrinated. For the Russian dragoons had for years aimed to 
achieve preeminent efficiency in fighting on foot ; they even seek with 
a sort of pride, to all appearance, to render the cavaleristic element 
itself, of ulterior account. But the best evidence of the ideas enter- 
tained by the Russian authorities as to the future sphere of action of 
the cavalry, appears from the fact that a similar armament and employ- 
ment is also contemplated for the Cossack regiments ; so that, when 
this transformation shall have been completed, the existence in Russia 
of a body of actual cavalry, fighting with sabre and lance, will scarcely 
be any longer in question. 

The Russian cavalry, it will be remembered, is divided into : 
I. The regiments of the regular cavalry (cavalry of the guard and 
army); 

" We are indebted for a portion of our observations to a work which has recently- 
appeared and which seems to us worthy of the widest dissemination: "The stra- 
tegical cavalry manoeuvres under General Gurko in Southern Eussia, in the fall of 
1882, and the reform tendencies in the Kussian cavalry, By A. von Drygalski" 
(R. Eisenschmidt, Berlin). Owing to the difficulties, consequent upon the lack of 
knowledge of the Eussian language, the few literary productions upon the army 
institutions of Eussia which come into the world, must be doubly welcomed, espe- 
cially when written, as in the case of the work above mentioned, from the critical 
point of view of the professional soldier. While the first part of the book gives a 
clear description of those strategical manoeuvres, which is interesting in itself, he 
who seeks instruction upon the spirit now animating our comrades-at-arms over 
there, will be amply rewarded by studying the second part of it, designated "reform 
tendencies." 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 463 



II. The Cossack regiments, 1 whicli In time of peace are 

III. Tiie so-called irregular troops, /only in part organized. 



I. Of regular cavalry, since the before-mentioned re-organization, 
there are: 

4 regiments of cnirassicrs of the guard, 

2 " " dragoons " " " 

2 " " ulans " " " 

2 " " hussars " " " 

46 " " dragoons " " army. 

Total, 56 regimentsof cavalry, consisting 

of 2 divisions, of 2 squadrons, eacii, = 224 squadrons.' 

To which is to be added : the Crim Tar- 

tary division, consisting of 2 (in time of 

war 4) squadrons, =4 " 

which in certain respects belongs to this 

enumeration. 

Total, in time of war, 57 regiments = 228 squadrons. 

Independently of insignificant differences, the strength of each of 
these organizations on a war footing, is : 31 officers, 48 non-commis- 
sioned officers, 17 trumpeters, 512 men^ = 608 combatants. These 57 
regiments have, therefore, a war strength of 34,656 combatants. 

II. Of Cossacks there are, i.e. are newly organized in war: 

(a) The Dox Cossack Woisko. 

In peace are present : 

The combined Don Cossack regiment (body 

guard), consisting of 4 squadrons == 4 squadrons. 

15 Don Cossack regiments (army), first cate- 
gory = 15 regiments, consisting each of 

6 sotnias = 90 sotnias. 

Carried forward 94 squadrons and 

sotnias. 



' The fifth squadrons serve as reserve squadrons and are so named even in time 
of peace ; they are disregarded in the above calcuhition. 

* Presumably intended to inchidc corporals, wlio in the Russian army do not 
attain to the rank of non-commissioned officers. — Translator. 



464 



THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. 



October 



Brought forward 

Newly organized in war : 
The Don Cos-- 



94 squadrons and 
sotnias. 



formed out of the 
combined Don 
Cossack regi- 
y raent (body 

guard), of the 
peace footing. 



sack regiment 
(body guard), 
consisting of 

The Ataman 
Cossack regi- 
ment ( body 
guard ) con- 
sisting of 

15 Don Cossack regiments, (army), second 
category, consisting each of 6 sotnias 

30 independent sotnias, second category, 

15 Don Cossack regiments, (army), third cate- 
gory, consisting each of 6 sotnias 

Total, 52 regiments, consisting of 

The war footing of these organizations is : 
The Don Cossack regiment, (body guard), 
53 officers, 96 non-commissioned officers, 
25 trumpeters, 960 men = 1134 combatants 

The Ataman Cossack regiment, (body guard), 
has apparently the same war footing = 1 134 
combatants 

The Don Cossack regiments, (array), 21 offi- 
cers, 86 non-commissioned officers, 19 trum- 
peters, 686 men, each = 812 combatants; 
in all : 



6 squadrons = 6 squadrons. 



= 6 « 

= 90 sotnias. 
= 30 " 

= 90 " 

316 squadrons and 
sotnias. 



1134 combatants. 



1134 



40,600 



War strength of the Don Cossack Woisko : 42,868 combatants. 
(6) The Kuban Cossack Woisko. 



In peace are present : 

2 squadrons, His Majesty's convoy 

10 regiments of horse, of 6 sotnias each 

1 division of horse, of 2 squadrons 

Carried forward 



= 2 squadrons. 
= 60 sotnias. 
= 2 squadrons. 

64 squadrons and 
sotnias. 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 

Broufrlit forward 



465 



64 squadrons and 
sotnias. 



Newly organized in war: 

20 regiments of liorse, second and third cate- 
gories, of 6 sotnias each 



Total 30 1 regiments 

Their war footing: is : 

The squadrons of the convoy, 6 officers, 18 
non-commissioned officers, 2 trumpeters, 
160 men, each = 186 combatants ; in all 

The Kuban Cossack regiments of horse, 23 
officers, 86 non-commissioned officers, 13 
trumpeters, 768 men, each = 890 combat- 
ants; in all 

The Kuban Cossack division of horse, 11 offi- 
cers, 18 non-commissioned officers, 7 trum- 
peters, 266 men = 302 combatants. 



= 120 sotnias. 

= 184 squadrons and 
sotnias. 



372 combatants. 



26,700 



= 302 



"War strength of the Kuban Cossack Woisko: 27,374 combatants. 
(The squadrons of the convoy are detached from the Woisko in 
time of war, but are counted in the above enumeration to arrive at the 
total strength.) 

(c) The Terek Cossack Woisko. 
In peace are present : 

2 squadrons. His Majesty's convoy = 2 squadrons. 

4 regiments of horse, of 4 sotnias each =16 sotnias. 

Newly organized in war: 

8 regiments of horse, second and third cate- 
gories, of 4 sotnias each = 32 " 



Total 12^ regiments 

Their war footing is : 

The squadrons of the convoy, 6 officers, 18 
non-commissioned officers, 2 trumpeters, 
160 men, each = 186 combatants; in all 



= 50 squadrons and 
sotnias. 



Carried forward 

Vol. I.— No. 4. 



372 combatants. 
372 combatants. 



80 



466 THE AEMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

Brought forward 372 combatants. 

The regiments of horse, 17 officers, 58 non- 
commissioned officers, 9 trumpeters, 512 
men, each = 596 combatants ; in all 7152 " 



"War strength of the Terek Cossack Woisko : 7524 combatants. 

(The squadrons of the convoy are detached 
from the Woisko in time of war.) 

{d) The Astrachan Cossack Woisko.® 
Total, 3 regiments = 12 sotnias. 

War strength of the Astrachan Cossack Woisko: 1782 combatants. 

(e) The Orenburg Cossack Woisko.® 
Total, 18 regiments of horse =108 sotnias. 

War strength ofthe Orenburg Cossack Woisko: 16,488 combatants. 

(/) The Ural Cossack Woisko.® 
Total, 7f regiments = 46 squadrons and 

sotnias. 
War strength of the Ural Cossack Woisko : 7059 combatants. 

(g) The Siberian Cossack Woisko.® 
Total, 9 regiments = 54 sotnias. 

War strength of the Siberian Cossack Woisko : 8190 combatants. 

(A) The Semirjetschensk Cossack Woisko.® 
Total, 3 regiments =12 sotnias. 

War strength of the Semirjetschensk Cossack 

Woisko: 1842 combatants. 

{i) The Trans-Baikat^ Cossack Woisko.® 

Total, 3 regiments, :^ 18 sotnias. 

War strength of the Trans-Baikal Cossack 

Woisko: 2676 combatants. 

(Jc) The Amur Cossack Woisko.® 
Total = 1 regiment of 6 sot- 

nias. 
War strength of the Amur Cossack Woisko : 910 combatants. 

5 The detailed enumeration of the original in the case of these Woiskos has 
been omitted for want of space. — Translator. 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 467 

III. Of irregular troops, which though so called, have also a fixed 
status, and are to be newly organized in war, there are: 

OflBcers. N.-C. Tnim- Men. Combat- 

Offlcei-8. peters. ants. 

1. 1 Sotnia in Irkutsk. 

"War strength .... 6 12 1 120 = 139 

2. 1 Sotnia in Kravsnojarsk. 

War strength .... 6 12 1 120 = 139 

3. 2 Ussuri sotnias. 

"War strength .... 5 9 3 133 = 300 

4. The Kutais irregular regiment of horse 

of 4 sotnias. 

War strength . . . .23 30 ... 600 = 653 

5. Standing militia. 

I Kuban sotnia. 

War strength 

II Terek sotnias muster 
11 Daghestan sotnias muster 
Ssuchum guard (1 sotnia). 

War strength (?) 10(?) ...(?) 160 = 170 

War strength of the irregular troops : 32 sotnias with 3817 com- 
batants. 

To these are to be further added those unenumerated thousands, 
available for organization in case of need out of the multitude of men 
and horses, of whose sum however, it is impossible to make a calcula- 
tion, or even an estimate. 

If, therefore, all these organizations come into existence in time of 
war, Russia would be able to bring into the field of cavalry : 

1. The cavalry of the guard and 
army, including the Crim 
Tartary division . . .57 Regts. = 228 Squads, with 34,565 Combts. 



1 


7(?) 


...(?) 


80 = 


88 


22 


6G(?) 


...(?) 


1177 — 


1265 


22 


66(?) 


...(?) 


975 = 


1063 



2. 


The 


i Don Cossack Woisko . 


52 


(i 


= 312 Sotnias, 


II 


42,868 


3. 


i( 


Kuban " " . . 


m 


II 


= 184 


II 


II 


27,374 


4. 


ti 


Terek " '« . . 


m 


II 


= 50 


K 


II 


7,524 


5. 


It 


Astrachan Cossack "Woisko 


3 


II 


= 12 


II 


II 


1,782 


6. 


It 


Orenburg " " 


18 


<i 


= 108 


II 


II 


16,488 


7. 


i( 


Ural '« " . 


7§ 


II 


= 46 


l< 


II 


7,059 


8. 


11 


Siberian " " 


9 


II 


= 54 


II 


II 


8,190 


9. 


t( 


Semirjetschen-sk Cossack 


















"Woisko . . . • 


3 


II 


= 12 


II 


II 


1,842 


10. 


<( 


Trans- Baikal Cossack 


















Woisko . . . . 


3 


II 


= 18 


II 


li 


2,676 


11. 


K 


Amur Cossack Woisko 


1 


II 


= 6 


II 


II 


910 


12. 


l( 


Irregular troops 


? 


II 


7^ 32 


It 


II 


3,817 






Aggregate strength . 


19G| regU. 


,^^.2 squadron: 
sotnias. 


s& 


155,186 



4G8 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

Tliese are, it must be confessed, significant numbers, as compared 
with which our 93 regiments with their 57,939 combatants (counting 
23 officers and 600 men to the regiment), would have a hard struggle, 
if numbers were anything else than — numbers. By themselves they 
as yet j)rove nothing. Of what use to the Russians are these 155,000 
horses, if they cannot be made available in good time? Even if the 
Russian regiments could be recruited up to the full standard as rapidly 
as the German, it woidd be impossible, in view of the colossal dimen- 
sions of the Russian realm, and in spite of the railways, to forward 
them to their destinations before the lapse of months. No proof is 
needed of this. Without going back further than to recent times, we 
know that in the Crimean war, as also in that against Turkey, Russia 
has had to suflPer from the imjiossibility of accomplishing a timely 
union of her combatant forces. The former came to an unsuccessful 
issue, principally in consequence of these causes. Russia, though im- 
measurably superior to the allies in combatant strength, was powerless 
to effect the transportation of her forces before the decisive moment. 
It was the same in 1877 and 1878, and so it will be for a long time 
to come, in future wars. To accomplish with adequate dispatch the 
junction on the frontier of military organizations like the Russian, will 
remain a difficult, and pcrhaj)s, indeed, an insoluble problem, even if 
Russia shall be, some day, traversed by a widely disseminated railway 
system, answering the demands of niilitary necessity. 

There can, however, be no question as to a recruitment of the Rus- 
sian cavalry to its war strength, as rapid as that of our own, when we 
recollect that large parts of the regiments of Cossacks and of horse, 
and notably all those which aic not regularly organized except for war, 
belong to the second and third categories. It is true that the troops of 
the second category are not only armed and equipped in time of peace, 
but have also their horses ; but the troops of the third category are 
prepared with their armament and equipment alone and have no horses. 
Thus, the regiments of the latter category may be primarily left en- 
tirely out of consideration, and even those of the second category will 
in all cases require a certain time, — perhaps several weeks, — before the 
completion of their formation and before they shall be ready to march. 
In so far as can be predicated, therefore, there would, under any circum- 
stances, be no question as to a transportation of these latter organiza- 
tions, until the march to the field of the regular army of operations 
should have been accomplished. We, for the time being, would con- 
sequently not have to concern ourselves even as to the regiments of the 
second category. Those who know what it means to push forward an 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 469 

army of so ami so many luindred tliousand men into the field, on four 
railway linos, and to make all the dispositions for their current and 
eventual wants and subsistence, will })erceive, witliout the necessity for 
the exhibition of detailed calculatious, that there can be neither time 
nor room for following them up at a very early day, by the dispatching 
of further masses of troops. Russia docs not, at the time, possess more 
through railway lines than these, in which is already included that 
leading out of her Southern provinces, from Charkow, by way of Balta, 
to Lemberg, on the Austrian frontier. From its terminus, Dubno, the 
troops would have before them to the Prussian frontier, a distance of 
460 verets = 305 English miles in an air-line, that is to say, a march 
of about four weeks. 

For immediate employment Russia has only those regiments which 
are already formed in time of peace. The remainder will furnish, it 
must be admitted, a highly respectable reserve, increasing in impor- 
tance the longer the war may continue, and the more impaired in 
strength our own cavalry, which cannot command equally powerful 
second and third lines, may l>ecome. At tlie outstart, however, these 
regiments may be disregarded as having any bearing on the strategical 
development of the campaign, upon the issue of which they could exert 
no appreciable influence, perhaj)S for months. 

Bearing in mind the foregoing remarks, we will perceive that 
Russia has organized in time of j)eace 504 squadrons and sotnias, with 
a war strength of 77,001 combatants. And even from this number 
deductions must be made. As the combined Don Cossack regiment 
of the body-guard is to serve as a nucleus for the two Cossack regi- 
ments of the body-guard of the Don Cossack Woisko to be formed in 
case of war, it can scarcely be assumed, if a systematic mobilizaticm be 
had, that it will move into the field with the regiments of the first 
category ; but on the contrary that, in all probability, it will not do so 
until the completion of the organization of these two regiments, that is 
to say, with the second line. In the same way the irregular troops, 
taking into consideration their constitution and organization, appear 
little adapted to be brought into immediate service. Altogether, then, 
there would be 4,575 combatants, which may well be deducted from 
those 77,001 ; so that the actual strength of Russian cavalry moving 
into the field at the outbreak of a war would amount to 72,426 as 
against our 57,1)39 men. It is true, it cannot be presumed that these 
figures are infallibly correct, as they are not directly tiiken Irom official 
sources, but depend essentially upon the statements made in the latest 
yearly issues of the " Yearly reports upon tlie ciiauges and progress in 



470 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

military matters." But in reality, a few hundred or thousand men 
more or less need not be regarded as of consequence in affecting the 
questions with which we have to do. 

All the regiments of the cavalry of the guard and army, as also 
those of the Don Cossack Woisko and a few of those of the other 
Woiskos, are attached to permanent cavalry divisions, which are more- 
over provided with artillery for their support. In time of peace, there 
are of these divisions : 

2 cavalry divisions of the guard, 
14 " " " " army, 

1 Caucasian cavalry division, 

2 " Cossack divisions, 
1 Don " division. 

Total, 20 cavalry divisions. 

Out of the extraordinarily strong second cavalry division of the 
guard (seven regiments and one independent squadron), two divisions 
are formed under an order of mobilization,® there being consequently 
in time of war a total of twenty-one cavalry divisions, consisting each 
of two brigades (the second cavalry division of the guard, of three 
brigades), of two regiments, with two horse batteries, each ; excepting, 
however, the cuirassier division of the guard, which then includes the 
Ural Cossack squadron of the body-guard, and the first Caucasian 
Cossack division, which numbers five regiments. It should, at the 
same time, be mentioned that the two Caucasian Cossack divisions 
have only one battery each. 

As, from the point of view of their strength, since Russia, except- 
ing the few regiments of the guard, possesses only dragoons and Cos- 
sacks (or, what is, to all purpose, to the same effect, regiments of horse), 
so also in respect of other constituent elements, do we find a similarity 
between the various divisions. There are : 

The cuirassier division of the guard, composed, as indicated by its 
designation, of the four cuirassier regiments of the guard and the 
before-mentioned Ural Cossack squadron of the body-guard. 

The first and second cavalry divisions of the guard, composed of 

* To this division belongs the combined Don Cossack regiment of the body- 
guard, out of which the before-mentioned two regiments are organized in time of 
war. Thus, unless the division were divided, it would include eight regiments, 
which would undoubtedly be too many. 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 471 

the ulan, dragoon, hussar, and Cossack regiments of the guard, equally 
divided between them. 

The fourteen cavalry divisions of the army, composed, on the other 
hand, of three dragoon regiments and one of Cossacks, each. 

The Caucasian cavalry division, composed of four dragoon regiments. 

The three Cossack divisions, composed each of four (the first Cau- 
casian division, of five), Cossack regiments, i.e. regiments of horse. 

As to the rdle, which would be assigned to these divisions, it can be 
determined with tolerable certainty. It is true, that in time of peace 
they are attached and united to the array corps in such a manner, that 
the two divisions of the guard belong to the guard corps ; the fourteen 
cavalry divisions of the army to the army corps Nos. 1-14; the two 
Caucasian Cossack divisions to the first Caucasian army corps; the 
Caucasian cavalry division to the second Caucasian army corps; while 
the Don Cossack division is apparently not assigned to any corj)s. But 
from this distribution among tiie army corps, it by no means follows 
that this relation is also intended to be kept up in time of war. Rather 
has the recognition of the necessity for an indej^endent employment of 
the cavalry, rendered all other considerations of this sort of minor im- 
portance, and it exercises such a dominant sway over the entire instruc- 
tion, organization, and being of the Russian cavalry, that it is to be 
expected with absolute certainty that, in time of war, the divisions will 
be assigned to the positions under the potent influence of that doctrine 
regarded as appropriate to them, which conclusion is also strengthened 
in view of the permanent assignment of artillery to them. 

Now, though we have, to practical intent and primarily, to do only 
with the before designated available Russian cavalry of the first line, we 
must not be oblivious of the fact, that those regiments of the second and 
third categories, with their 82,760 men, are in the rear of the first line, 
preparing for the fray, and — though it maybe a longtime — will yet 
finally reach the front. It will scarcely be maintaine<l, however, that 
the strategical importance of the cavalry would be of appreciable sig- 
nificance and influence during the first j)eriod of the war; let the rdk 
of the German combatant forces become developed in the course of it, 
how it may, whether as an offensive or defensive one, always will 
the side that shall be provided with a numerically superior cavalry 
(equal excellence being pre-supposed) be the better served, and in con- 
sequence posse&s a certain advantage. But that, in such later periods, 
the Russian cavalry will be numerically stronger is unquestionable and 
a matter of fact which those may bear in mind for whom our 93 
regiments are already too many. It may be urged that the CV)s>ack 



472 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

regiments have no reserve squadrons (such being only formed for the 
regiments of cavahy of the guard and array); and that, therefore, 
presumably, portions of the regiments of the third category would have 
to undertake these functions not only for those of the first, but also for 
those of the second, category. But with all that, whatever could be 
pushed forward with us in the way of reserves, would be of inappre- 
ciable account in comparison with the masses which would appear from 
the interior of Russia. In 1870 it was repeatedly demonstrated that 
our reserve squadrons could scarcely, nor in adequate time, cover the 
more serious losses, — and over there, there are 80,000 fighting men 
moving forward into the first line ! 

Herewith we have to a certain extent a definite notion as to the 
numbers with which we are concerned in regard to the Russian cavalry. 
But with no arm do numbers alone amount to so little, and in order 
to arrive at an approximately correct judgment as to the value of the 
Russian cavalry, it is first of all necessary to examine more closely the 
fundamental principles, which underlie its equipment and armament, 
its instruction and employment. 

While formerly the cavalry of the guard and army was exclusively 
mounted upon the quite fairly useful but rather heavy-footed horses 
of Great Russia, these regiments in later times have also taken the 
majority of their remounts from the races of the steppes of the 
Southern provinces. In himself better adapted than any other to 
military service, by his endurance and tractability, the Cossack horse 
nevertheless furnishes in his build the type of the lightest imaginable 
cavalry horse (though in certain aspects the Hungarian may perhaps 
stand side by side with him) ; so that in point of fact the Russian 
cavalry of the present can scarcely be regarded as consisting of other 
than light regiments. One does not need to be a defender of the heavy 
cavalry, especially of the cuirassiers, to appreciate that as the mass 
must ever lend to a choe a certain preponderance of weight, the Rus- 
sian cavalry must in this manner, in view of its system of remounts, 
fall short in its necessities and that it has little prospect in a closed 
attack, to withstand an adversary riding towards it upon more powerful 
horses, well held in hand in consequence of a rational training that 
ensures obedience and equanimity, And the more especially so, as 
there is to all appearance scarcely any more question as to artistic 
equitation in the Russian cavalry. The deer-necked, weak-backed, 
Cossack horse renders every systematic training well-nigh futile: — 
short gallop, side-steps, and such ; indeed every species of well-executed 
evolution, upon which, with justice, a high value is placed among us, 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 473 

are with him demands totally impossible of fulfilment. A cavalry in 
which the spirit for equitation and the art of riding vanishes in the 
degree, to whi(!h it seems to have vanished in the case of the Russian, 
— such a cavalry must inevitably and simultaneously retrograde in its 
])eculiarly cavaleristic elements. It has known better times, at least 
the cavalry of the guard and army; its riding-school horsemanship 
was even quite fair; but, in this respect, its materiel in horses is the 
ruin of it. Let us not deceive ourselves. Over there they have it, 
that the Russian cavalry with its system of to-day is giving proper 
importance to field-exercise and true horsemanship, as contradistin- 
guished from the many years wherein that accorded to school-training, 
on its part dealing a death-blow to the cavaleristic spirit, had been 
inordinately exaggerated. As to the latter we might be conservative 
enough to offer to be convinced ; but one goes from one extreme to the 
other. One forgets, that school-training forms the fundamental basis 
of field-exercise and that where it is jjroposed to progress by strides 
to the latter, without leaving to the former the place due it of right, 
this can only be at the cost of the horses, but above all of horseman- 
ship. Of what use to the Russian cavalry are the races, for which 
prizes are offered on behalf of the state ; of what use the prolonged 
rides for the testing of endurance, which latterly have come in vogue 
also in the garrisons; of what use, above all, to the Cossacks, are the 
various tricks practised, reminding one of the circus, — when, in spite 
of all, there is total powerlessness, by proper influence upon the horse, 
to control him in obedience during the attack? These are all things, 
which might quite gladly be accepted into the scale, after naught should 
have been found wanting; but they must never be dignified as of 
primary importance, or as the chief aim to be attained. 

Even the equipment of the Russian cavalry horse cannot be con- 
ducive to horsemanship, i.e., the art of riding. The peculiar form of 
the horse's neck apj)ears to necessitate a rein rather lower than common. 
On the contrary, however, in consequence of tlie remarkable manner of 
saddling and packing, the bridle-hand inevitably assumes an abnor- 
mally high position. Upon a felt saddle-blanket surmounted with 
leather, rests the tree and upon this the quadrupli-foUled horse-cover, or 
the schabraque, as the case may be. To the front of the tree there are 
arranged, as with us, the pouches; at the rear, an overcoat-sack. But 
as in the latter, there is, with the other respective articles of equipment, 
no room for the overcoat itself, it has been contrived to find a ])lace for 
it at the front fork, where, after the fodder-sack has been wrapped 
around it, it has been fastened over the pouches. When, therefore, in 



474 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

view of the high seat of the rider on the felt saddle-blanket, tree and 
horse-cover, or tree and schabraque, a satisfactory seat upon the bade 
and in consequence an easy bringing forward of the offhand is scarcely 
possible, which in certain respects, for that matter, on account of the 
soft back, may all be very well ; so, on the other hand, through this seat 
and especially through the position of the overcoat, the bridle-hand 
is proportionately heightened. The result of this is that, as with such 
a rein the animal cannot be well held in hand, everything contributes 
in the more rapid gaits to a disorderly, uncontrollable dashing and 
tearing, while the unnaturally raised attitude and the inadequacy of the 
off hand impose the whole burden upon the weak back. A peculiar 
impression is also giv^en by the further loading down of the horse. In 
a pocket fastened to the felt saddle-blanket, there are, in a similar 
position as with us, two horseshoes and sixteen nails; on one side of 
the overcoat-sack hang the cooking utensils. To the rear of the saddle, 
where with us lies the fodder-sack, hangs on one side a net with hay, 
for two days and on the other side a sack'^ with two days' provender of 
oats ; so that the whole load, inclusive of forage, weighs over one 
hundred and fifty pounds and the horse has altogether to carry, if we 
assume the rider, with arms and equipments, to weigh two hundred and 
ten pounds,^ some three hundred and sixty pounds.® Now let one 
fancy the cavalryman in the act of mounting his horse, peradveiiture 
pursued by the adversary after an unsuccessful attack on foot. True 
it is, the animal is not large, but how far must the man lift the right 
leg out of the ball-and-socket joint, to get over the hay net, the over- 
coat-sack with the cooking utensils and the two days' provender of 
oats! — With the Cossack regiments, the method of saddling is the 
same, with slight differences, which are of no especial interest. That 
the Cossacks ride upon the snaffle and, instead of spurs, carry a whip, 
is well known. 

The armament, also, since the regiments of hussars and ulans have 
been transformed into dragoons, is, taken all in all, the same in the 
entire Russian cavalry. While, formerly, the dragoons and Cossacks 
exclusively were armed witii muskets available for fighting on foot, to- 
day the whole body of regiments, with insignificant exceptions (the cui- 
rassiers of the guard, etc.) could dismount to the same weapon. Yet 
this revolution, as has been seen, has been no violent, sudden one. Es- 

T Not to be confounded witb the above-named "fodder-sack," the object of 
which, in addition to this haversack, we further do not quite clearly comprehend. 
8 V. A. V. Drygalski. 
8 About three hundred and seventy-one English pounds. — Translator. 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 475 

pecially with the dragoons had fighting on foot been regarded with 
j)e(H>liar predilection, as will be notably j)ereeived, if we rec^olleet the 
corps of dragoons of the tsar Nicholas. Indeed from the very begin- 
ning has the Russian cavalry had a certain tendency to attach pre- 
dominant importance to fighting with the fire-arm in hand ; and often 
it has lu'cn said that the cavalry of Peter (he Great (dragoons) felt 
far more in its element on foot than on horse-back. The experience 
derived from the war of 1870-71, which clearly demonstrated the in- 
dubitable necessity of the fins-arm for the cavalry, could only give new 
impetus to this tendency ; as a result the carbine was soon placed in 
the hands of the second rank of the hussars and ulans. But then even 
this did not seem to satisfy the in(;reased demands of the case; it was 
believed that a successful contest by cavalry before the front of armies 
pre-supposed the jwssibility that in case of need it should individually 
possess characteristics enabling it to carry on a brisk combat with fire- 
arms, and then was brought about that transformation of the twenty- 
eight regiments of ulans and hussars of the army into dragoons, since 
which time the entire body of Russian cavalry (excepting the guard) 
virtually consists only of dragoons and Cossacks. In consetiuencc, as 
a matter of course, the organization and armament are in keeping with 
this change; or, these latter have, rather, it shoidd be said (in view of 
the fact that, as known, tlu; Cossacks had already time out of mind 
carried the fire-arm in addition to the lance), been throughout adapted 
to an (MDjilovment of the cavalry on foot. 

Of blank hand-arms all the regiments (the regiments of the guanl, 
army, and of Cossacks) carry the sabre;'" in addition thereto, the Cos- 
sacks and the cuirassiers, ulans, and hussars of the guard, carry the 
lance. Of fire-arms, the cuirassiers of the guard have exi^lusively re- 
volvers on the Smith and Wesson system ; the ulans and hussars of the 
guard have, for the first rank and for the non-commissioned officers, the 
revolver; for the second rank, the carbine on the Berdau system (con- 
struction similar to the Berdan infantry musket but of lesser lengtii, 

"> Tho sabre, similarly as at ono timo with us the side-musket of the infantry 
{e.g., the Prussian paluce-guurd company), is suspended from a bandolier worn over 
the breast. It thus ac(juire8 a quiescent jxjsition, which is rec<»f;niz«'d as a great 
advantiige, while on the other hand, the bandolier interferes with the breathing of 
the man. It is peculiar, but in certain respects quite ingenious and useful, that tho 
blade is sheathed in a wooden sealiliard. Hy this arrangement tlie annoying rattling, 
througii which a cavalry regiment betrays itself from afar, even on the softest soil, 
is intended to bo avoided. J]ye- witnesses, who are very enthusiastic over this de- 
vice, picture to us ns highly singular the impression conveyed by tho regiments thus 
moving ahead in phantom silence. 



476 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

the cartridge being the same as for the dragoon musket) ; the dragoons 
have for both ranks the dragoon musket provided with a bayonet (!) 
(Berdan system, but likewise of lesser length ; the cartridge the same 
as that for the infantry musket, but with a weaker charge); and the 
Cossacks have the same musket but without a bayonet. Of ammuni- 
tion pursuant to this armament, — taking no account here of the reserve 
quantum at hand in the trains, etc., — there are carried : by the cuiras- 
sier of the guard, 20 revolver-cartridges ; by the hussar and ulan of the 
guard, 20 revolver- or 20 carbine-cartridges, according to the rank ; by 
the dragoon and Cossack, 40 dragoon musket-cartridges. 

If one has, in Russia, a. penchant for cavalry of a peculiar species 
and aims to attain, in so far as may be possible, the extreme theoreti- 
cal standard, which has been apparently fixed upon, that is an affair 
with regard to which we would not in so far l)e lacking in conserva- 
tism as to deny that there may be justification, in a degree; though we 
are by no means enthusiastic for an exaggerated uniformity and are 
quite clearly of opinion that, without detriment to their appropriate 
spheres in action, the hussars and ulans may continue to exist along 
with dragoons, in fact, that the ulans, on account of the lance, must 
continue to exist. If, further, the entire cavalry receive the same fire- 
arm, in order that the independence of this arm of service shall not be 
impaired, that is also a matter, as to which no one can justly find fault. 
That every troop of cavalry must be in a condition to fight on foot, on 
occasion, requires no especial demonstration at the present day. But 
when the dragoons are also to carry a bayonet (!), with the avowed in- 
tention of attacking with it on foot, closed in mass, it is not too much 
to say that an arrangement of this kind must alienate, in no slight 
measure, even the judgment of the most conciliatory. As a matter of 
fact, forty-six regiments of horse, the dragoons, are thus armed ; with 
the sabre they are provided with the means for making the bayonet 
available, and on each and every occasion, when they dismount to fight 
on foot, they are to fix the latter, to vivify by its moral influence, so we 
are told to believe, the spirit of the offensive. 

That the offensive spirit should not desert the cavalry on foot, is 
clear, and that the bayonet strengthens the offensive, is also subject to 
no doubt. But must the dismounted cavalry, in fighting on foot, on 
the defensive, as also on the offensive, equal, nay even excel, the 
infantry ? Such would certainly seem to be the drift of the reports, 
which come to us upon the matter, as they dignify such a capacity 
into especial praiseworthiness. And if, through the employment of 
the bayonet, such a preponderant value be given to fighting on foot, 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 477 

must not tlie cavalry necessarily become degradetl into a sort of 
go-between, half cavalry, lialf infantry, neither one thing nor the 
other? We have every esteem for the infantry, as the principal arm 
of all modern bodies of troops, achieving the final decision of battles; 
but we have no esteem for an infantry, which is at the same time 
cavalry, or, what is to the same purj)ose, for a cavalry, which is at the 
same time infantry, and l)y which, therefore, it is proposed to represent 
a composite arm, possessing the peculiar attributes and adaptability of 
each. To be both with equally preeminent excellence, as much a 
cavalryman as foot soldier, is simply imj)Ossible, even with a viustly 
lengthier period of service than is everywhere in vogue at the i)resent 
day in European armies, and though the Russian cavalryman were to 
remain his full six years with tiie colors; — the one is inevitably antag- 
onistic to the other. The dismounted cavalryman is only the half 
of an entirety; what may be required of him on foot, can only be a 
service incident to occasion, but must not be made the chief end of his 
being. The future, perhaps, may have in store for us " mounted 
infantry." But then let it be what it is intended to be, " infantry" 
which, fully and absolutely organized, instructed, armed, and equipped 
as such, has learned the further lesson, to make proper use of its horses 
to the intent of reaching the s])ot where it shall act as infantry and 
which shall, at the same time, inspire that respect, which is commen- 
surate with the inherent importance of this arm. To require simul- 
taneously from it the service of cavalry, the closed attack, the making 
of reconnaissances, etc., would be j)reposterous. For our part, we are 
scarcely prepared to have much faith, even in such a mounted infantry. 
Heretofore it has nowhere sufficed for its intended purpose. The few 
companies of mounted infantry, which the French had created in 
Southern Algiers (the men rode on mules), were soon done away with ; 
the formations contemplated by the English in the Egyptian expe- 
dition of 1882, were abandoned, because, apparently, the requisite 
materiel in horses was not forthcoming. In Southern Africa, where, 
alone, mounted infantry to an extent achieved results and played a 
rdle of some importance, considerations had weight which have no 
bearing whatever in the case of our European armies. Fioin child- 
hood, the Boer is as much at home with tiie rifle, as with the horse. 
The same remarks have force, to a certain extent, witli regaid to the 
cavalry in the American war of secession, especially that of the Southern 
states, at least with regard to a great portion of its reserves. It was 
incorrectly denominate<l as such ; the name of " mounted infantry" 
would have been more appropriate, for of distinctively cuvaleristic 



478 THE AEMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

peculiarities, which would have admitted of its employment in battle, 
closed in mass, it possessed little. The great raids, which gave it fame, 
require from the troop itself, as shown by the manner in which these 
occurred or became developed, nothing more in the way of such caval- 
eristic peculiarities, than a certain endurance, as well as familiarity 
with and aptitude for riding, which qualities fall lamentably short of 
making a cavalryman of the individual in question. If Russia, as it 
would appear, have taken those swarms for her prototype, she cannot 
expect in the future other achievements for her bodies of horse than 
were there attained ;" nor can there then be question of a stand to be 
taken by cavalry in dressed files, sabre in hand ; and the practica- 
bility and utility of successes peculiar to the undertakings of cavalry, 
properly so called, must be acknowledged by her to be excluded from 
the limits of the possible. 

And, — we report it with reluctance, — it is almost so. True, it is 
not quite ])roposed as yet to abandon a contest with cavalry in the open ; 
but an attack upon infantry is regarded as purposeless, for the cavalry 
would be destroyed, so it is said, ere it could get at the infantry. And 
for this reason, the bodies of horse are to abandon this thankless field 
of activity, and are only to devote themselves exclusively to the solu- 
tion of their other two problems, the strategical service of reconnais- 
sances and fighting on foot, in the latter of which, utilizing the rapidity 
of their horses to approach unobserved, as well as on occasion to 
disappear with alacrity, they might still have chances. The Russians 
think of the cuirassiers of Woerth and of Sedan. But bravery alone 
can certainly not accomplish everything ; to success are essential besides 
courage, prudence ; besides gallantry and dash, also reflection and the 
military eye. In fine, so say the Russians, the few cases in which, in 
the last wars, cavalry had still found the opportunity to act with 
energy, had proved beyond the possibility of contradiction that the 
time of its successful achievements existed no longer. But they lose 
sight of the fact, so far as 1870 is concerned, that both sides, Germans 
as well as Frenchmen, only commenced to learn through this war. 

Since that time all our efforts have been directed towards the 
ascertainment of the forms and conditions necessary to be arrived at, 
under a due appreciation of the altered relations appertaining to the 
efficiency and tactical requirements of the various arms of service; 
this one thought is almost exclusively the basis of all our exercises; 

" V. the note to the translation of the " Kussian criticism" upon this paper, in 
the Army and Navy Quarterly, October, 1885, page 488. — Translator. 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 479 

the successful availability upon the field of battle is the conditio sine 
qua non, the one consideration, without which the cavalry is not worth 
the money expended upon it, and without which, — as, certainly, beyond 
all question, it cannot be relied upon to bring about the achievement 
of decisive issues on foot, — it must deteriorate to the position of a 
merely auxiliary arm. And as we, so labor also the others : in France, 
where even now it is proposed to introduce again the lancers and where 
the cuirass itself has been again included in the cqui])ment of a portion 
(six) of the regiments, in which it had been discarded ; in Austria, in 
Italy, everywhere the same principles are being acted upon and a new 
spirit animates the cavalry ; in dispositions and regulations suitable to 
present demands, it is thought the goal in the fulfilment of the most 
ardent iiopes, is being reached — and this with especial regard to 
the vastly increased efficiency in results attendant upon the infantry 
combat of the day ; and the opportunity is yearningly looked for, in 
which it may be vouchsafed to put to the test uj^on the adversary, 
whether perfection shall have been attained. And in the mean time 
the Russian cavalry, which, being the most numerous of all, should be 
the first to strive to equal these ideals, throws the lance to one side 
and, taking the point, fixes it in the shape of a bayonet upon the 
muskets of its troopers, so that they may fight on foot, neither cavalry- 
men, nor foot soldiers, because they no longer have confidence in them- 
selves, to horse. The Cossacks, it is true, are still to be mounted in 
action, as the lance has been left in their hands; but Cossacks in 
themselves cannot be imbued with tactically cavaleristic ideas, and 
time out of mind their emj)loyment for the closed attack was not to be 
thought of. Besides, how long will it be till they also shall have lost 
their old historical weapon? The idea has already been advanced, to 
rob them of it, for of course it is useless in fighting ou foot. 

Fighting on foot is to-day to constitute the most notable method of 
fighting for the cavalry. What it has lost in utility when mounted, it 
is to regain through so much the greater achievements with the fire- 
arm. On foot, it is to shun no adversary, whether in attack, or defense ; 
it is even to attack positions held by the hostile infiintry and to drive 
out the latter at the point of the bayonet. Now it may be granted 
that a thoroughly excellent cavalry, ui)on occasion, tchen it is imperative, 
must not, as a matter of course, recoil dismayed before the duty of 
capturing and occupying points and defiles, etc., which are defended by 
infantry. But can it be thence construed that this is intended to 
apply to the more important conflicts, with the masses of the inimical 
infantry ranged in line of battle? Having advanced before the front 



480 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

of armies, shall the cavalry, after it has driven back the enemy's horse 
and comes upon the latter's infantry, attack this also ; or shall they go 
so far as to dismount in battle and, forming battalions, proceed to ad- 
vance in steady and cont'muous fusillade, shoulder to shoulder with the 
infantry, against the enemy's lines? The Russians require this. Dis- 
mounted cavalry cannot count upon success against infantry, except 
through its artillery, or through surprise, or through great numerical 
superiority, and in those cases only where relatively weak bodies of 
infantry are concerned. With the instant, where the hostile cavalry 
has disappeared from the scene and ours has encountered the main 
forces of the adversary, its duties as an oifensive arm cease, and these 
duties, in order to maintain until the approach of our own main body, 
that which has been accomplished and won, become distinctively de- 
fensive. Of a further pushing forward, there can momentarily be no 
longer any question ; one keeps up with the enemy and touches, and 
feels, and observes, and reports, but nothing more; with force nothing 
further is to be done, and least of all on foot. To oppose dismounted 
masses of cavalry to infantry, is already in itself an error for one reason 
alone, — quite independently of all considerations having to do with 
their inferiority in a{)propriate qualities, — in that the cavalry, in view 
of its diminished numbers, as well as its peculiar situation, must suffer 
inordinate loss in face of the tremendous advantage possessed by the 
infautry. For the losses sustained are aggravated by the enormous 
number of horses and horse-holders, which must inevitably trammel 
and impress an unwieldy character upon the squadrons to such a degree 
that their combatant power may well be reduced to a minimum. 

The Russians should certainly know this. Or are they of opinion 
that their 155,000 men make them independent of considerations of 
this sort? They will acknowledge the reverse, if their cavalry shall 
really carry out what is required of it. It does not suffice that it shall 
not avoid a conflict with the infantry, but it must even court the 
opportunity to bring one on, by seeking out the flank and rear of the 
latter, dismounting, and then proceeding to the opening of the attack 
in inverted front, — an order which can never become ominous or pre- 
judicial to it, on account of its horses ! And while it would, to be sure, 
be possible, on occasion, to ride down an infantry disturbed through 
the threatening of its line of retreat, the fundamental idea is that the 
contest with fire-arms and the final attack with the bayonet, if less 
expeditious, lead more surely and readily to the object to be attained, 
and that the mounted attack should be the exception, not the rule. 
That the last will actually be the case, we are quite prepared to believe. 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 481 

A body of troops educated to fight as infantry, will only brace itself to 
a mounted charge with reluctance. The fight on foot appears to it the 
least dangerous. But let us now imagine one, two, or three cavalry 
divisions advancing against infantry in position. Can they in any case 
look for success? AVe are of the opinion, that a body of infantry, 
which can be brought to yield through the appearance of dismounted 
cavalry, should be forthwith transformed into garrison troops, and, to 
speak with Frederick the Great, should be shorn of hat-trimmings in 
disgrace, unless, indeed, the cavalry be tenfold superior to it in skirm- 
ishers. To give way before the cutting and thrusting of the squad- 
rons, which attack it in flank or rear before it has time for reflection 
or to assume formations requisite for defense, may be honorable for the 
infantry ; but to be vanquished in the fight by these squadrons, when 
they dismount is simply disgi-aceful. It is one of those great lies which 
Napoleon I., not only as man and politician, but also occasionally as a 
soldier, did not hesitate to hurl into the world, that 3000 dragoons 
on foot, grow into 2000 infantrymen. The 3000 dragoons are reduced 
to 2000, as it is, as a third must act as horse-holders ; and then these 
remaining 2000 are still only dragoons, and in the true signification of 
the word, i.e. cavalrymen, — not infantrymen, by far. 

In many ways, the Russian takes after and affects the Frenchman. 
What is new exercises upon him an irresistible charm ; animated be- 
cause of apparent progress, he does away with and demolishes old time- 
honored institutions and labors upon the erection of new ones, until the 
consciousness is brought home to him that he has built upon sand and 
that his hopes and fantasies have led him astray. So it is with his social 
and political relations, and so it is in the army. Once already had he 
wandered into the same crooked by-paths. But the experience which 
should have been gained with those dragoon corps of Nicholas I., was 
fruitless. To-day the cavalry divisions are to be a sort of universal 
arm. Infantry with the musket and bayonet, cavalry with the horse, 
they are strongly supplied with artillery, that they may be the better 
adapted, and in heightened degree, to energetic combat, whether in the 
conflicts aiming at distinctively decisive results, or otherwise. Indeeil, 
latterly it has been thought that they should not even be deprived of 
the valuable support of pioneei's, that eventually they may be enabled 
to make available the various means of aid of field fortification. To 
one of the cavalry divisions (the fourth), a squadron of mounted sap- 
pers was assigned over a year ago, and it may well be premised that this 
example will shortly be followed in the case of the others. 

The crucial test as to the eflBciency of an arm must ever be inde- 
VoL. I.— No. 4. • 31 



482 THE AEMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

pendence in every respect. Bnt as this is unquestionably correct, it 
must liave its limits, like every other general rule. Mounted sappers, 
a handful to a division, for peculiarly technical work on railways, tele- 
graphs, bridges, etc., can render excellent service; — in undue propor- 
tions, they become a species of ballast and lead to ideas, which should 
have and can have nothing in common with the efficient activity of the 
cavalry divisions. Artillery is essential to secure a proper standard for 
the combatant power of cavalry ; without artillery, the latter must fare 
detrimentally in all those enterprises devolving upon it, which require 
thoroughness and that independence which may enable it to sustain 
prolonged contests ; two batteries to a division of four regiments are, 
however, too much of a good thing. That when at hand in such pro- 
portions they would in many cases afford the cavalry the opportunity 
to dismount to fight on foot, would be no misfortune; but they will as 
frequently operate to embarrass and interfere with distinctively caval- 
eristic action and bring about a weakening of the offensive power of 
cavalry, in consequence of "the necessity of detaching from the latter, 
suitable supports : — if we mistake not, the Russian r^glement designates 
two squadrons, as the force to be invariably employed for this purpose. 
Where the artillery is too strong, it inevitably becomes, in the nature 
of things, the chief arm, and the 7'6le of the others assumes a subordi- 
nate character, being confined to rendering support and affording cover. 
Detachments of one battalion with one battery, where the infantry is 
charged with the performance of an independent duty peculiar to this 
arm, are tactically not to be thought of; detachments of four cavalry 
regiments with two batteries, only where certain conditions are satisfied. 
But these latter detachments can least of all be of advantage, where it 
is proposed to fight on foot, for these four regiments have no skirm- 
ishers ; and this would be true, even though no mounted reserve or 
especial assignment of a supporting body for the artillery, were neces- 
sary. It is true, it appears to be intended to raise the standard of the 
cavalry regiments of the guard, and army to six squadrons,^^ but until 
this change shall have been accomplished, we cannot regard the pre- 
vailing relation between the two arms as a favorable one. 

The reports of General Gurko,'^ upon the latest strategical cavalry 
manoeuvres, si)eak of the peculiar and, from a cavaleristic stand-point, 
the deplorable fact, that on the last day of manoeuvre both the contend- 



^2 Most of the regiments of Cossacks now number six sotnias. 
'^ v., for example, the before- mentioned paper of A. von Drygalski, as also 
No. 34 and succeeding numbers of the first year of the German Heeres Zeitung. 



1885. CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 483 

jjig parties, upon encountering one another at Ananjew, dismounted to 
fight on foot, without aj)parently having made even the faintest en- 
deavor to attain a decision through a mounted attack. Tin's is one of 
those sickly misconceptions, of a false system of greater and lesser 
tactics, consequent upon unsound views, which have often heretofore 
been brought to the light of day, when, having in mind a ])erfectly 
correct idea, one has allowed one's self to be carried away to illogical 
conclusions, which lie beyond the domain of the possible. 

But if, with all their predisposition towards fighting on foot, the 
Russians shall some day attack us, in obedience to an irresistible im- 
pulse, or because they shall be led by officers, who have yet remained 
cavalrymen ; — when their united forces of all arms, reenforced by their 
second and third categories, shall come surging towards us!? Then 
there will come to pass cavalry battles, such as the world has not here- 
tofore seen ; then it must be demonstrated, that not the masses alone 
can achieve decisive results, but, on the contrary, the spirit which 
animates them ! Victory is not secured by superiority in numbers, but 
by horsemanlike thoroughness, by the insight, the keenness, the aptitude, 
the military eye, of the leader. In Russia, our system of instruction 
is derided, our riding-school training is declared to be exaggerated, our 
three-file tactics calculated for the place of exercise alone, and the 
opinion is seriously entertained that their Cossacks and dragoons would 
soon settle with men like ourselves, i.e. with manage riders drilled 
like machines. For our part we cannot relinquish the belief that with 
our organization, our r^ylement, our instruction, but, above all, with 
the inherent spirit of our arm, we have taken better counsel than the 
Russians. 

Herewith we have in contemplation the Russian cavalry as it is at 
the present day; not as it may become in the future, in the event the 
crooked road, whereupon it has suffered itself to be betrayed, shall be 
further followed. It is not enough that the traditions handed down 
from the time of the greatest fame of the cavalry have been broken 
with; tendencies are exerting their powerful influence in Russia, that 
would go far beyond the present aspect as we have depicted it, and 
which, if they prevail, would impose upon the Russian ciivalry an ex- 
terior that would vividlv call to mind the hordes of a Dshingis Khan. 



484 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 



A RUSSIAN CRITICISM UPON "THE ACTUAL AND OSTENSI- 
BLE CONDITION OF THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY." 

(Translated from the Jahrhucher fur die Deutsche Armee and Marine by 
Stanislaus Kemak, late First Lieutenant Fifth XJ. S. Artillery.) 

The paper by Rittmeister von Dewall, contained in the "Jahr- 
hucher,^^ entitled, "The Actual and Ostensible Condition of 
THE Russian Cavalry," has, as was to have been expected, called 
forth a number of adverse comments in the Russian military periodi- 
cals. Considering the rather unfavorable verdict which Rittmeister 
von Dewall has rendered upon the Russian cavalry, it is not matter of 
surprise that over there in the great Eastern empire his critical opinions 
are not relished, and that at times there can be observed a disposition 
to deal with them in a spirit of no great leniency. The severity, as 
we should rather say, which his observations have encountered, is the 
more noticeable, in view of the fact that simultaneously with and em- 
bodied in the criticism of the work of von Dewall, appears also that of a 
more flattering verdict pronounced by another writer. This is a paper 
published at about the same time as that of Rittmeister von Dewall, 
by the Austrian Colonel von Walter- WalthofFen, in the " Organ der 
militdr-wissenschaftllchen Vereine/' 1884, vol. xxvii.. No. 1, entitled 
" The Russian cavalry in its latest phase of development, compared 
with the Austrian," in which, basing his views upon personal observation 
and detailed studies from original sources, the author reaches a conclu- 
sion differing materially from the verdict of Rittmeister von Dewall 
and calculated to place the Russian cavalry in a far better light. To 
this fact, of the expression at almost one and the same time of two such 
opposite opinions from the pens of professional men, is no doubt espe- 
cially to be attributed the determination manifested on the part of the 
Russians, thoroughly to controvert the views of von Dewall. 

In the following pages we give the Russian utterances with the 
greatest fidelity and correctness, consistent with the occasional incorpo- 
ration in our text of the views of Colonel von Walter- Walthoffen, re- 
fraining at the same time from any expression whatever of our own 
opinions. With the presentation of the observations made by the one 
or the other of the contending parties, it is, therefore, under no circum- 
stances to be understood that we share them. We may say^ ratker, that 



1885. CRITICISM UPON THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 485 

we are far from coinciding in all particulars either with the views of 
Rittmeister von Dewall, or with the Russian strictures thereon, but 
have preferred, without comment, to afford a neutral ground whereon 
the opposing critical contentions may appear and be heard. 

The "Wajennyl Sbornik^' (May, 1884), introduces its remarks upon 
the work of Rittmeister von Dewall, with the words : " Mr. von 
Dewall is not acquainted with the Russian cavalry from personal in- 
spection and judges it upon hearsay and the sources which he may 
have conveniently found at hand ; none the less his criticism is very 
severe and the conclusions to wliich he gives expression are not favora- 
ble to our mounted troops. Fundamentally cognizant only of its 
organization and numerical strength, Mr. von Dewall derives from the 
one circumstance — the transformation of our hussars and ulans into dra- 
goons — an opinion upon our cavalry and compares the type of our 
cavalryman, thus fashioned in his contemplation, with that of the 
German, naturally according to the latter all preference." In contra- 
distinction to this course, reference is then made to that of Colonel 
von Walter-Walthotfen, who had, year in, year out, closely followed 
the activity of the Russian cavalry, not only from personal observation, 
but also by a careful study of all the printed comments which had 
appeared, from which, as a matter of course, it becomes evident "that 
no absolutely groundless accusations or assertions are to be found in 
his article. And if, here and there, he be in error, he aims in every 
instance to be impartial and shows a disposition in many respects, to 
do us full justice." Thus much we premise as to the manner of 
characterizing the two authors, of whom the last-named discerns in 
the Russian cavalry a "dangerous adversary" of the Austrian. 

As a starting-point for the supervening observations, the Russian 
criticism selects the article of Rittmeister von Dewall, adding the 
views of Colonel von Walter- Walthoffen and those entertained at 
home, "as in the severe style employed in the former, everything 
happening with us appears to be subordinated to the desire to dwell 
with esj)ecial prominence upon certain individual characteristics." We 
cannot here continually repeat the text of Rittmeister von Dewall's 
article, but must confine ourselves to giving the numbers of the pages 
in referring to especial portions of it. With regard to the introductory 
remarks up to page 462,' the Russian author says that Colonel von 
Walter- Walthoffen sees no sign of a decay of the cavaleristic element 



' The pages here cited are those of the translation of the original article, in 
the Army and ^'ary Quarterly, (October, 1885). — Tkanslatob. 



486 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

in the distribution of the Cossacks to the regular cavalry divisions, 
but that, on the contrary, the Russian cavalry had in consequence 
become better adapted to field service and that the Cossacks had more- 
over thereby lost something of their irregular character, whether to 
their advantage or detriment could only be learned through the experi- 
ence of war. But the dragoons have, — so says von "Walter- Walthoffen 
as opposed to von Dewall — "always rendered better mounted service 
than the remaining cavalry, and to this circumstance is also in part to 
be attributed the remodeling of the entire Russian horse into dragoons." 
His own opinion is expressed by the Russian, Baron E. Rausch von 
Traubenberg, in these words : " As a matter of fact, the dragoons 
have never been surpassed by the hussars and ulans in a cavaleristic 
sense. But the recently accomplished transformation is to be explained 
by the duties devolving upon the mounted organizations of the present 
day ; not by the assumption that it is proposed to assail the essential 
spirit of cavalry or practically to give it up as a distinct arm." 

To the polemics of von Dewall, on pages 472-473, with regard to 
manage and field exercise, as also upon the utility of the Russian cav- 
alry horse of to-day, von Traubenberg prefixes the view of von 
Walter- Walthoffen upon these points, tending to show that while ma- 
nage riding had somewhat deteriorated in Russia, in consequence of the 
diminished term of service, tliere had undoubtedly been brought about 
an improvement in field exercise, to which the distribution of the Cos- 
sacks to the regular cavalry divisions and the great percentage of horses 
of the steppes, unsuited to the purposes of manage riding, had notably 
contributed. The rapidity of the gaits is stated to be not so great in 
Russia, as in Germany and in Austria; but the method, adopted in 
Russia, of habituating the horse to labor, had been shown to be fully 
expedient, practicable and satisfactory in results and in every way 
worthy of imitation. Von Traubenberg states as his own opinion, 
that the type of the horse of the steppes, principally available for the 
mounts of the Russian cavalry, is by no means as von Dewall has 
fancied it. The race had become conspicuously nobler, the growth of 
the horse greater, and the whole build had undergone so material a 
change that an eye not well-practised would experience difficulty in at 
once detecting the horse of Cossack blood in the remounts; indeed, 
these horses are not infrequently assigned even to the regiments of 
cuirassiers, which, for a prototype of this race, would be impossible. 
The care taken in this matter is evident from the appropriate regula- 
tions, in accordance with which "the manage gallop and side-steps are 
required and also exercised in practice, as proof of which the various 



1885. CRITICISM UPON THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 487 

provisions as to tlic instruction of tlie officers, non-commissioned officers 
and men, tlierein contained, may be referred to. Star-gazers and run- 
aways undermine tlie reputation of a chief of squadron, and every 
possible effi)rt is made to diminish their number." "The view of von 
Dewall, tliat manage riding forms the basis for field exercise, is 
thoroughly correct, and this fact has by no means been lost sight of by 
us. The horse is only sent to the front and into the field, when he has 
gone through a complete course of training on the snaffle and curb. 
He takes the gallop, makes side-steps, — is therefore under the control 
of the rider. Beyond doubt this training formerly went much further, 
but this was only possible, because the cavalryman served longer and 
because, at the same time, the ideas then entertained as to the service of 
this arm differed from those which now prevail." The closed attack 
upon tiie field of battle is to-day no longer the only duty devolving 
upon the cavalry, and for that reason "as soon as the horse shall be iu 
the power of his rider, the exercises of the riding-hall must give way 
to field exercise, for the manage is intended to be one of tlie means, but 
not the sole olyect of instruction." Accordingly these things, in addi- 
tion to other branches of instruction, are jiractised during the winter, 
" with the advent of spring, however, the occupations assume a different 
character — and terrain exercise ensues, whereby we employ the term in 
its most comprehensive sense." Disi)osing of the strictures of von Dewall 
as to the method of saddling with the answer that the imperfections 
of the present cavalry saddle had also been fully aj)preciated in Russia, 
and that a new model is in contemj)lation, von Traubenberg ])roceeds 
to the examination of the remarks of von Dewall on pages 476-480, 
with regard to " mounted infantry," and tlie decadence of the cavaleristic 
spirit in Russia on account of the ])redilection towards an " infanteriza- 
tion" of their bodies of horse. Although von Traubenberg is of opin- 
ion that von Dewall goes too far in his complaints against the Russians, 
and that these are certainly unfounded if they rest solely upon allega- 
tions of the favor in which fighting on foot is held; he yet believes 
that such complaints nm^^t inevitably lead every thinking cavalryman 
to ask himself the question, whether such a tendency may not actually 
exist, and further whether an outside observer may not judge more 
correctly than one who is himself directly on the spot, a necessarily 
passive participant, powerless to withstand the stress of revolutionizing 
change, and perhaps by his very surroundings precluded from dispas- 
sionate investigation. Von Traubenberg regards this self-testing as 
the more necessary, inasmuch as von Walter-^ValthofTen also advances 
the views of the Prussian Rittmeister, if in fin* milder form. The 



488 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

latter is stated to have reached the identical conclusion, that the regula- 
tions for the fighting of cavalry on foot go too far and partake too 
much of the regulations for infantry, and " in consequence a tendency 
to the too general development of fighting on foot is brought about to 
the prejudice of distinctively cavaleristic instruction. In many cases (as 
also in the last Turkish war), fighting on foot is resorted to, where this 
is not imperatively necessary. By a comparison of the Austrian regu- 
lations with the Russian, it will be perceived that the Austrians have 
fallen into the opposite error, while the Prussians hold the golden 
mean." Further elucidating his thought, von Walter- WalthoflTen says : 
"Thus the Austrian cavalry has remained far behind the Russian in 
the matter of fighting on foot, while the German may readily enter 
upon such a contest with the latter ; the Austrians should here tread in 
the footsteps of the Germans." The question as to whether Russia is 
moving within appropriate bounds in this respect, or not, von Trau- 
benberg refrains from deciding; but he strenuously combats the view 
that the Russian cavalry can be regarded as " mounted infantry," and 
for himself individually denies both the applicability of the parallel, 
by which it is likened unto the " American cavalry," as well as the 
intimation that the latter is held forth as a pattern, the more as in 
Europe one has to do with regular cavalry.^ 

2 In contradistinction to the rather severe judgment of Eittmeister von Dewall 
upon the activity of the American cavalry, it may interest the American profes- 
sional reader to learn that in a recent paper in the " Jahrbiicher fiir die deidsche Armee 
und Marine," (July, 1885), entitled " Recent developments in the Eussian cavalry," 
by A. VON Drygalski, (an acknowledged authority upon the subject, with regard 
to which he has published a number of communications), reference is made to a 
scientific gathering of Eussian military men, at one of whose meetings the impor- 
tance of greater enterprise in partisan warfare, as carried out in the American war, 
■was urged and at which the fact, then alleged, that the Americans had copied their 
raids from the Eussians, was apparently dwelt upon with especial satisfaction. 
These scientific military gatherings have been instituted at St. Petersburg by the 
officers of the general staff, there stationed, and are participated in by the Grand 
Dukes. On the evening in question, after a discourse by Lieutenant Colonel Baron 
" E. v. T." (Eausch von Traubenberg) upon "The views of recent German 
military writers upon the role and activity of modern cavalry," Colonel Ssuchotin, 
Professor in the Academy of the general staff, a recognized authority on cavalry, 
at the solicitation of the Grand Duke Nicholas (the senior), made some remarks, in 
which occurred the reference above mentioned and in which he "emphatically de- 
clared his opinion, that the Eussian cavalry, as regarded the peculiarity of its or- 
ganization, education, instruction, armament, equipment and readiness to fight, 
mounted as well as on foot, had vastly outstripped the other European armies ; and 
though, at first, the Eussian reforms in this respect had engendered doubt, they had 
now called forth the desire to imitate them." After referring to the especial avail- 
ability of partisan enterprises and raids in hindering the mobilization and ooncen- 



1885. CRITICISM UPON THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 489 

Tlie opinion intimated by von Dewall, that the Russians in depriv- 
ing the Cossacks of their lances, had rohbed themselves of the last 
remains of their cavalry, von Traubenberg is not disposed to share. 
"The lance is emphatically not an absolute condition demanding to be 
satisfied, in the armament and equipment of the cavalryman; in the 
fatherland of Seydlitz it is carried oidy by the ulans, but does that 
signify that the remaining bodies of horse are contaminated by a spirit 
tending to give them the predominant attributes of infantry? In any 
case, the use of the lance is confined within narrow limits. Its defend- 
ers principally advance in their favor, always the one argument only: 
the moral effect upon the infantry. And while this undoubtedly 
becomes desirable in the closed attack, it must be remembered that the 
Cossacks would be employed for such duty on comparatively rare 
occasions, so tiiat the lance is not really necessary to them ; on the 
contrary, it is frequently quite detrimental in this method of fighting; 
and, finally, it should be remarked that many of the Cossack AVoiskos, 
as those of the Terek, the Kuban and others, never have had the lance, 
nor have it now." 

With regard to the second part of the work of von Dewall, — as to 
the conjectures upon the manner in which the Russian cavalry may 
])ropose to carry out its strategical activity, — the Russian author com- 
plains that here von Dewall again starts with the erroneous assumption 
that instruction with a view to fighting on foot is dignified as of 
primary importance and that for this reason the cavalry divisions had 
been so plentifully suj)plied witii artillery. The concluding [)aragraj)h 
on page 483 of the work of Dewall containing the reference to the 
hordes of Dshingis Khan, draws forth the remark: "this severe tirade 
shows on the one hand little knowledge as to the Russian arrangements ; 
then, on the other, it sounds unduly inspirited by a patriotic sentiment, 
which is little calculated to further the behests of a calm weighing and 
inquiry as to the subject-matter; the views expressed, demand, more- 
over, logical demonstration." Premising that the cavalry of to-day 
lias a double duty to fulfil, namely a strategical and a tactical one, 
von Traubenberg says as to the first of these services devolving upon 
it, that this necessitates a lengtiiy separation of the cavalry, dispatched 

tration of the enenij', latterly so notably accelerated, Colonel Ssuchotin insists that 
"the cavalry must, however, be able to light equally well, whether mounted or on 
foot, nor regard a ride of 400 versts as anything extraordinary." The comprehen- 
BJve discussion of tlie subject of partisan warfare, as treated, among other writers, 
by F. Gkkschklmank, in the " Wajennyl iibonn/<," 1884 and 1885, is stated to be 
in the sanie vein. — Translator. 



490 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

to great distances, from the other troops, and makes it dependent upon 
itself and its own resources. To be enabled to carry out this role, the 
cavalry must possess a relative degree of independence and, for this 
reason, instructed by the experiences of the later wars, all the great Euro- 
pean |)owers had armed their bodies of horsemen either with carbines 
or with muskets, to enable them in individual cases to act without the 
support of infantry and, here and there, even to take the place of the 
latter. The assignment of horse artillery to the Russian cavalry 
divisions is based upon the presumption as to the requirements of the 
latter in mounted conflicts and is perfectly consistent with the organi- 
zation of the regiments into four squadrons and still more so in the 
case of those having six ; to base the strength of the artillery upon the 
number of men dismounted to fight on foot, had least of all been 
sought after. It must also be superadded that the Russian horse 
artillery is preeminent for remarkable mobility, decision, and intre- 
pidity and can, therefore, never become a burden to the cavalry. 

Remonstrating against the disposition of von Dewall, to allow neither 
traditions nor the true spirit of the arm to the Russian cavalry, von 
Traubenberg — remarking that its past achievements had probably not 
been less glorious than those of the cavalry of the descendants of Seyd- 
litz and of Zieten — states that " the rare instances advanced by the 
author in support of his adverse comments upon the arrangements 
for dismounting, have reference to manoeuvres, and do not, therefore, 
really require serious contradiction at the present time. The sabre has 
not been consigned to oblivion by the dragoons; they are ever prepared 
for attack with this weapon." 

Colonel von Walter-Walthoffen diverges in his views from those of 
Rittmeister von Dewall. The cavalry divisions have, as stated, the 
same duties assigned to them in Austria as in Russia. Yet there, there 
is no fixed distribution of cavalry to the infantry division, which rather 
has cavalry assigned to it as necessity may arise, and thus it happens, 
according to the opinion of von Walter- Walthoflfen, that the employ- 
ment of the cavalry in Russia is not always a correct one. The reserve 
cavalry (the stronger masses of troops), which comprehends all the 
available cavalry divisions with their artillery, has the definitive^^roblem 
before it, to hinder the breaking through the line of battle by the enemy, 
as also to afford time to the troops to occupy new positions; but, be- 
sides, it is to execute the last decisive stroke against the unsuccessful 
antagonist, or, in the event of disorder among the home troops, to 
rescue and hew them out of such ominous predicament. Here and 
there the reserve cavalry can also be employed in operations against the 



1885. CRITICISM UPON THE RUSSIAN CAVALRY. 491 

flank and rear of the adversary, even on foot ; and it indeed seems as if 
great weight were accorded to active enterprises of this sort, and as if 
it were contemplated frequently to resort to them. As to the above 
expression of von AValter-Walthoffen's views with regard to the duties 
devolving upon the various Russian bodies of cavalry, von Tranben- 
berg remarks: "Although Mr. von "Walter- Walthoffen has studied the 
official instructions, relating to the active employment of our horsemen, 
he falls into the same error as Mr. von Dewall in reference to the opera- 
tions of great masses of cavalry against the flank and rear of the enemy. 
Without investigating the sources in which the two German writers 
liave searched, we merely observe that such a proceeding is nowhere 
officially recommended with us, and that therefore, where it may be 
resorted to, the reason must be sought for in the individual judgment 
of the commander as to the necessities of the situation." Theoretically 
developing this question, von Traubenberg reaches the conclusion that 
"the valuable peculiarity of cavalry — its rapidity — must be taken ad- 
vantage of, but nevertheless, a methodical attack on foot must not be 
thought of where the division lias shrunken to dimensions approxi- 
mating two battalions, for then, as a matter of course, even relatively 
equal excellence being pre-supposed, it can prove no match for the in- 
fantry, and we also act accordingly." 

In so far as the Russian article has reference to that of Ritt- 
meister von Dewall, we should here have come to an end. But owing 
to the fact (because, as we believe, our communication thus gains in 
interest) that we have also drawn the views of Colonel von Walter- 
Walthoffen within the sphere of our observation, let it be permitteil 
to repeat here the concluding verdict which the latter renders upon the 
Russian cavalry. He says: " In general we find in the Russian cavalry 
and especially in the Cossacks, a very earnest, enduring, mobile, un- 
tiring, and shrewd adversary. The standard of the mental training 
and culture of the officers becomes heightened with each year, and the 
number of those officers who have enjoyed the opportunities for suit- 
able preparation and study grows apace." " Thanks to the recent trans- 
formations," we read further, "the Russian cavalry has become pecu- 
liar to itself and there is shown in it a greater tendency towards ac- 
tivity on foot than in the cavalry of the other great powers. It cannot 
be denied that the distribution of Cossacks to the regular cavalry has 
called forth, or at least developed, a greater mobility and greater ai)ti- 
tude for outpost service and the service of reconnaissance, while, in 
consequence, on the other hand, an exceedingly favorable influence is 
also exercised upon the Cossacks. 



492 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

" In the changes introduced into the regulations, the idea of a greater 
capacity for manoeuvre of the cavalry, adapted to recent demands as 
to its tactical employment, has been carried out. The organization of 
the Cossacks after the manner of the dragoons and their incorporation 
into the regular cavalry divisions, materially increase the strength of 
the cavalry. 

" With regard to the theoretical and practical occupations of the 
officers, the strenuous efforts made to prepare them thoroughly for the 
severe duties of service before them, are noteworthy. The view enter- 
tained by many that the re-organization of the Russian cavalry has 
transformed it into 'mounted infantry,' is absolutely groundless. The 
cavaleristic element has emphatically not been lost there. On the con- 
trary the last campaign has shown, that not only in the regular, but 
also in the irregular, Russian horse, there existed a spirit of enterprise, 
which became manifest and led to the best results, whenever the leaders 
understood how to awaken it and make it available. 

" Though it be true that the Russian cavalry had then to do only 
with an inimical cavalry of no great excellence; yet if in the future, it 
shall be called upon to take the field against active and enduring bodies 
of horse, well organized, armed, equipped and instructed, it will be 
demonstrated whether the practical application of the tendency to 
assign greater importance to fighting on foot than heretofore, has been 
prejudicial to cavaleristic peculiarities, or not." 

Connecting the close of our communications with the beginning, 
i.e., with the Russian criticism upon the work of Rittmeister von 
Dewall, it should be added that von Traubenberg designates the author 
as an officer of esteem in his domain, who has a right to speak with 
authority, and who, though not free from prejudice against the Russian 
cavalry, has yet developed such an abundance of interesting observa- 
tions upon the importance and activity of the cavalry, as to entitle 
him to recognition as conspicuously conversant with and a lover of his 
arm. 



1885. THE MORAL ELEMENT IN MILITARY DISCIPLINE. 493 



THE MORAL ELEMENT IN MILITARY DISCIPLINE. 

[We make the following extract from a lecture entitled " Drill or Education ?" 
delivered before the Military Science Society of Vienna by Lieutenant Field-Mar- 
shal the Archduke John. It was translated from the German for the .Journal of the 
Eoyal United Service Institution by Captain W. A. H. Hare, R.E., D.A.Q.M.G.] 

A DiSTiNQuisiiKD general once said to me that when he was commanding a 
Hungarian regiment in the Italian campaign he was asked whether he could rely 
on his men, and he felt he could answer that they would certainly do their duty 
for the sake of their colonel. And this proved to be true. The affection of men 
for their commanding oflBcer can do great things, but it must be more than mere 
sympathy, it must be an affection amounting to a devotion of the most completely 
confiding and self-sacrificing nature. To be able to gain an afloction 0/ this kind, 
however, is not the gift of all, for a good disposition and study are not suflicient ; 
popularity-hunting will never do it. AVe must have a fellow-feeling for our subor- 
dinates, and then only can we gain their hearts. But to display this fellow-feeling 
only will do no good. You will never win the hearts of men unless your heart is 
really with them. Unfeeling men are to be avoided just as those hypocrites who 
are cunning enough to feign a fellow-feeling. They are left in the lurch the mo- 
ment the game they are playing is laid bare, and they are then the more hateful as 
■we feel they have deceived us. Ordinary individuals have far greater instinctive 
powers of discernment in these matters than most people give them credit for. 

It might be urged by those who object to these principles that it would never 
do if a regiment would only follow Colonel A and not Colonel B. And it would 
certainly never do ; but the other kinds of moral motive-power which I have 
alluded to, insure troops doing their duty under any leader. If, however, our 
aims are higher than this, nothing but personal influence can attain them. Rustow 
is perfectly right in saying " the influence of a commanding oflBcer does not arise 
from chance or accident. He who can get more from his men than can his opponent 
from his, is always at an advantage." 

An Austrian author, describing the habit of discipline in the observation of 
certain forms as the only means at our disposal, says literally, " It is a myth that 
in the rapid conversion of our human material so-called beloved leaders arise, 
round whom men rally with devotion in the hour of battle." Now, to those who 
know troops by personal contact, and have a fellow-feeling for them, there is, thank 
goodness, no myth about it whatever. Afliection is a thing quickly acquired, but 
habit is a matter of time. If the rapid conversion of our human material is dan- 
gerous to one of these, then I should say that habit is most likely to suffer in this 
respect. The filling up of the ranks with the reserves, the marches for concentra- 
tion, and the first, though perhaps ever so small, engagement, are enough to make 
a commander liked or disliked by his men. Ay, it only requires a moment or 
so in the hour of danger for a really first-rate man to gain the afl'cction of his 
inferiors. 

One of the most important conditions, and at the same time a useful lever 
for morally improving the soldier, is the relation that exists between officer and man. 



494 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. October 

This relation is in certain armies based on tradition. Based on conditions that 
have still something patriarchal about them, and the social standing of the subaltern 
officers, it is in Russia far more direct and intimate than in other countries, and is, 
perhaps, too familiar. The Prussian officer, as we all know, having a social stand- 
ing of the first rank in the country, moves in the best society in consequence, and 
being represented with his men by excellent non-commissioned officers, is brought 
far less in contact with them, in fact, his relations with them are almost of a purely 
duty nature. "With us the relation varies very much in the different branches of 
the service according as the officer lives more or less in close contact with the men. 

But on the whole we might observe that, having due regard to the peculiarities 
of the majority of nationalities in our army, the relation might with advantage 
be a closer one in the infantry. 

The soldier should, in fact, be looked on as a man, and what is more, be made 
to feel as a man. The officer need not be always on duty from his point of view. 
"Without causing any undue familiarity he can, by daily intercourse with his men, 
get opportunities, while fully maintaining his position, of showing- himself in the 
light of a sympathizing fellow-creature instead of the mere superior, in caring for 
their interests and doing all in his power for their material welfare. 

If the bonds between officer and man be closely drawn, the former ought 
never to find it difficult to arouse, without the use of empty phrases, in a way that 
suits the individual character of the man, such qualities as love for king and 
country, pride in himself as a soldier, ambition, amour propre, a soldier-like feeling 
of obedience from self-conviction, and a feeling of camaraderie and attachment to 
his regiment. No stone should be left unturned to raise the tone and feeling of 
the soldier. "We can well aifurd in this to be a little indulgent in insignificant 
matters; we must not think it serious if regimental feeling goes so far as to make 
the soldier look down upon other regiments ; give the soldier if possible recreation 
at the right time ; put up with his light-heartedness, and even turn it to account, — 
and above all things take care not to get into the habit of continually finding fault, 
rather bestow praise, even if it is only half due. Approbation is better than blame ; 
it is the indispensable forerunner of amour propre, attachment, and cheerful labor. 
Constant finding fault produces, by the blunting effect it has on the feeling, the 
most difficult evil to get rid of — apathy. 

The officer should have all those moral qualities we look for in the soldier in a 
higher degree. "We have to produce military characters, independent, cheerfully 
energetic, and thoroughly conscientious men. Though many may look on con- 
verting soldiers into machines as a preparation for our next war, the intelligent 
man will look for it more by fostering their individuality and initiative. For the 
shorter the time the fight lasts, the greater is the necessity for seizing opportunities 
without waiting for orders. The more murderous the fire, the more questionable 
is the possibility of giving orders, and the more frequent the loss in commanding 
officers, whose regiments, however, cannot stop in critical moments to have the 
command taken over. The greater the friction, the more is it desirable to have, 
instead of a machine-like army, a living organism, the parts of which can act 
independently in the spirit of the general desire. 

It would appear, therefore, all the more desirable that the higher leader should, 
instead of making his subordinate officers go in leading-strings, direct them intel- 
lectually, and so fashion their ideas that he may confine himself to ordering what 
is only absolutely necessary, and leave the remainder to the initiative of his subordi- 
nates, feeling sure that though they may not act strictly in accordance with his 
orders, they are certain to act in accordance with his intentions. This, again, re- 



1885. THE MORAL ELEMENT IN MILITARY DISCIPLINE. 495 

quires the relations between senior and junior officers to be of the closest kind ; to 
communicate our own ideas and convey our own ways of thinking to others is only 
possible with close personal contact. There are some colonels and generals who 
keep almost quite aloof from their officers; very often this arises from an un- 
founded fear on their part that close contact with juniors is likel}' to affect their 
dignit}'. But the man who is firm in the saddle as a member of the military hie- 
rachy feels no necessity for surrounding his person with obstacles to approach, 
which after all afford a very poor protection to the authority belonging to the 
rank only and not to the person, against the skepticism of juniors. A colonel or a 
general should have the courage to be a friend and comrade off duty. 

But when the increased demand for independent and self-relying officers has 
been alluded to, it has been sometimes met with the question whether independence 
did not already exist, and only required to be tolerated? No! unfortunately it 
must be cultivated, for there arc too many of our juniors whose minds are dull and 
without desire, who are only too glad to be relieved of all responsibility by the 
guardian of inactivity ; and the lethargy which is the consequence lasts long after 
the original cause has been removed. Let every one be given the full free scope 
allowed by the spirit of the regulations, and let us trust to the responsible spon- 
taneous action of our juniors. We must satisfy ourselves beforehand, however, by 
the stricte-t tests, that what is required is likely to be forthcoming, and distinguish 
between the criminal presumption of the impostor and the proved and consequently 
esteemed conscientiousness of the reliable man. 

Everything that the junior does cannot always be improved on. Many an error 
in execution or even in resolution may be overlooked in order that power of resolve 
and self-reliance may not be interfered with. We should never let ourselves be 
influenced by temper or passion, and never color the meaning of others. The eye- 
servant who tries to curry favor should never be encouraged, nor should the hon- 
e!^t man, who, rather than try to ingratiate himself, makes himself perhaps dis- 
agreeable, be snubbed. This is the way to produce military characters, otherwise 
we shall only produce slaves, who in the choice of " to be" or " not to be" pur- 
chase the " to be" with the surrender of their individuality, at first, perhaps, against 
the grain, but gradually with their moral emasculation appeased. 

The officer must be naturally inspired by an ideal conception of his profession. 
He will thus be proof against the attacks of materialism, and encouraged to face 
the trying duties of his calling. 

Let the officer remember that if he can oppose a living dam to the flood of the 



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496 THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTEKLY. 

disorganizing tendencies of our days, these will break helplessly on the soundness 
of his strength of character. Let him acquire a pride in himself from the thought 
of the meritorious work he has done in yearly instilling into the minds of the one 
hundred thousand men or so that annually join in the colors, a higher moral tone, a 
love of justice and order, and feeling and character, — in fact, the blessings of civil- 
ization which they take with them to their distant homes, to there produce further 
benefits. The oflBcer thus fulfills in peace a mission just as noble in itself as is his 
bloody work in war. Let our oflELcers be firmly convinced that in days when op- 
posite disuniting efforts are tending to undermine the monarchy, it is the officers' 
duty to strengthen to their utmost the bonds that unite it, by instilling into the 
minds of the thousands that come from all parts of our wide empire a feeling of 
unity in the whole Fatherland, and the desire to raise the national colors high 
above the petty strife of faction and party, remembering the noble words of the 
poet, " Austria is in the camp." 

Let the ofl5cer fully understand his position ; let him raise himself above the 
ordinary level of moral courage, so as to be, in the closest sense of the term, the 
soul of his men, and lead them to victory. But the soldier, if the call or even the 
example of the officer is to have any effect, must be susceptible and attached to 
him. 

"Rubbish," I hear again the opponents of these ideas exclaim with a cold 
scornful sneer. Well, may they never be taught by disaster that troops that are 
drilled only and not educated will fail them in the hour of trial; may they never 
have to feel in the bitter hour of defeat what a difference there is between possessing 
and not possessing the affection — this supposed myth — of their men. 

And now enough ! 

In view of the possibility of the monarchy having, at some not very distant 
date, to engage in a serious conflict, the traditional patriotism of the Austrian 
army must and can imperatively call upon every man belonging to it, no mat- 
ter what his station be, to take the most complete loyal faith as his sole guide, and 
follow the line which most surely leads to success. 

There can be only one right way, for there is only one kind of truth. But it is 
difficult sometimes to find and recognize it ; hence different views, different faiths. 

Supported as I am in my belief when I think of the many high-minded and 
great men whose wise and reforming doctrines have led me to my present convic- 
tion, and when I call to mind how olten many excellent troops of our army, 
though undrilled, have shown the highest discipline in the dark days of misfortune, 
and by their spirit and moral strength have given the most unmistakable proofs of 
the greatest devotion, I will preserve unimpaired a belief in men, a belief hi my 
ideal, and a belief in the way in which it is attained. 

The meaning of this belief is contained in the — 

Answer to the title of this lecture. 
Lei us not merely drill, lei ics educate. 



INDEX. 



PAQB 

Actual and Ostensible Condition of the Russian Cavalry (The). By 
H. von Dewall. Translated from the Jahrbilcher fiir die Deutsche 
Armee und Marine by Stanislaus Remak, late First Lieutenant Fifth 

U. S. Artillery 460 

American Humorist (A Forgotten). By Mrs. Launt Thompson . . 36 
Balloons. By M. J. Jamin, of the Academy of Sciences. Translated from 

the Revue des Deux Mondes by Jas. Duval Rodney ..... 168 

Books Received 128 

British Navy (The). By Sir E. J. Reed, M.P 17 

Does Germany NEED A Navy? By Karl Jacob 381 

Electric Light on board the French Armored Ship " Richelieu" 
(The). From Mittheilungen aus dem Oebiete des Seewesens, by Lieuten- 
ant W. H. Beehler, U.S.N 316 

Electricity as applied to Naval Purposes. By Lieutenant W. A. Chis- 

holm-Batten, R.N 385 

End or a Great Navy (The). By Vice-Admiral Jurien de la Graviere. 

Translated from the Revue des Deux Mondes by Jas. Duval Rodney . 74 

European Cavalry. By Colonel Keith Eraser 1 

France and China 222 

French Railway Corps (The). Translated from the Avenir Militaire and 
Journal Officiel for the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution by 

Captain W. A. H. Hare, R.E., D.A.Q.M.G 373 

Functions of Cavalry in Modern War (The). By Major Graves, Twen- 
tieth Hussars 328, 405 

General Gordon's Life and Letters 345 

General Lebrun and the Twelfth French Corps at Sedan. Trans- 
lated from the Jahrbilcher fiir die Deutsche Armee und Marine by Stanis- 
laus Remak, late First Lieutenant Fifth U. S. Artillery .... 301 
German Military Punishment. By C. J. L'Estrange . . . 193, 274 
Humanity and War. Translated from the Jahrhiicher fiir die Deutsche 
Armee und Marine by Stanislaus Remak, late First Lieutenant Fifth 

TJ. S. Artillery 129 

Literature (The) of the Thirty Years' War. By J. Watts de Peyster, 

Brevet Major-General S.N.Y 422 

London Letter (Our). By C. Sleeman 118 

Machine Guns in the Field. By Captain the Right Hon. Lord Charles 

W. Beresford, R.N 257 

497 



498 INDEX. 



FAOE 



Modern Cruisers. By Naval Constructor Theodore Albrecht, Austrian 
Imperial Navy. Translated from the German by Lieutenant W. H. 
Beehler, U.S.N. . 209 

Moral Element (The) in Military Discipline. Translated from the 

German by Captain W. A. H. Hare, E.E., D.A.Q.M.G 493 

Present Position of Tactics in England (The). By Colonel W. W. 

Knollys 55 

EussiAN Criticism (A) upon "The Actual and Ostensible Condition 
OF the Eussian Cavalry." Translated from the Jahrbiicher fiir die 
Deutsche Armee und Mm-ine by Stanislaus Eemak, late First Lieutenant 
Fifth U. S. Artillery 484 

Sham Sieges. Translated from the Jahrbiicher fiir die Deutsche Armee und 

iVfaHne by Professor A. A. Benton, M. A. 202 

Some Changes in Tactics caused by the increasing povter of Modern 

Fire (On). By Captain W. H. James, P.S.C, late E.E. . . .155 

ToRPEDO-BoAT Warfare. By C. Sleeman 237, 284 

Torpedoes on Shipboard and in Boats. By C. Chabaud-Arnault, Capi- 
taine de Fregate, M.F. Translated from the Revue Maritime et Coloniale 
by Wm. Bainbridge-Hoff, Commander U.S.N. 91 

Wolseley's (Lord) Plan of Operations 263 



The Army and Xavij Quarterly Advertiser. 



FROM FOUR TO SIXTY-FOUR. 

A visitor to a scliuol cxumiiiiitioii in AllieriH or 
Koiiio on 11 ilii.v ill till' year A. II. 1 iiiiglit have lieani 
tlie question ii»U»'d lij' tlie ti'iiclicr, "• llow niaiij' eie- 
uieiitti lire llicre in nature?" ami the scliolai'H an- 
swer, ns found in the books, would have h<-fn,"Kour 
— earth, air, tire, and water." Thai answer wai as 
fur lis Hcirnie had icnclied at that lime, lint diligent 
research, prosecuted in llio interveiiiiiK ii>;es, has 
given to the scliidaruf to-day a (lilleient iin.swer. A 
visitor to a Bchool in Loiid<'U or I'aris or 1'liilndel- 
|iliia would hiar the same (iiiestion replied to hy a 
inudern scholar with " JSixly -four !" 'ihoiigh there 
are nonioreelenieiits to-day than ever, we are get ling 
aciiuaiuted with them. One of the must interesting 
discoveries made in mrdern tiMies hy delvers into 
the mysteries of nature is that of " Compound O.ty- 
gen." Drs. Slarkey & Palen, of Phihidelpliia, the 
physicians who liave been lor years treaiing their 
patients with this remedy, are in constant receipt of 
letters full of grateful ackliuw ledgment of benefits 
received from its use. A few recent testimunies are 
the following: 

"Mount Pi.eas.\nt, Pa., August 4, 188.5 

"Drs. SxAKKtY <fe I'ali.n: iiciir i>iin, — I lake great 
(ileasiire in stating that uiy wife derived great bene- 
fit from the use of your 'Compound Oxygen.' She 
had not known a well moment lor several years until 
my Htleiiiioii was called to your Trealui' nt through 
your advertisement in The bcotlsdnle 'Jribune about 
two iiionllis ago. In that time it has brouj^ht new lile 
to her system. 

" Very truly yours, Rkv. L. R. Beacom, 
" Parlor 31t I'UuiuiU Al. E. Church, PtIlshuryU Confer- 
ence." 

The following is an extriict from an English 
patient's letter in answer to an inquiry from a lady: 

" Madam, — Instead of being a trouble, it would at 
any time t;ive nie pleasure could I in any way asjji.'<t 
a fellow ->nfrerer from asthnia in getting the least 
relief, as I well know what the feelings are. 

"On the Ifitli of January, I8S3, about three o'clock 
in the morning, 1 was fii st iittaiked w itii the disease. 
Next morning, at the same liour, I hud a second 
attack, and 1 thought I was going to die. On the 
third morning I learned from my physician the name 
of my ailment. In spite of all the attention and care 
of w liich he and his assistants were capable, 1 con- 
tinued to get worse until I was not able to lie down 
<ir have one minute's sleeji for four days or nights. 1 
then tried patent medicines, various kinds, too numer- 
ous to nieniion; in fact, I tried ever.Mliing that I 
thought would benefit me, but the benefit was only 
of short duration. What I suffered I cannot describe, 
neither do 1 want to think about it. In July last I 
heard of the Compound Oxygen. I wrote to Mr. 
Garner lor a supply. I began inhaling at once, and 
continued according to directions. In <i fortnujUl I 
wa» able to lie doicn in bed ami oleep Wtll — ir/«i< I hml 
Hot been able lo do since my first attack — (im</ / am flill 
grttiiig stronger note, I cannot say I am free from 
asthma, lor I find a little of it at times. lint it does 
not prevent my sleeiiing well, and I am able to eat 
without feeling the least pain trom indigestion ; but 
am still continuing the use ot the Oxygen, but not so 
often ; and intend continuing for some time, as I can- 
not expect alter so much siitl'ering to be well all at 
once, but am better now than I ever expected to be 
again in this life, and am thankful beynnd meamre. 
"Jajiks SlooRK, isup'-rmleiKleiit o/ I'lilice, 

" Ulandford, Duiselshire, England." 

For more than half a century the author of llie fol- 
lowing letter ha.s been a niiniMter in the Methodist 
£pisco|ial (.'hnri h, and, though eiglity-four years old, 
his f.ice and voice are know n to more peopU- ihaii any 
other man living in Phihnlelpliia, for he maintains 
till- vigor and energy of those younger by a score of 
yettiit, constantly using his preserved strength in 
going aliout doing good: 

"To Dits. Stakkky a Pai.en: Dear Sim, — I had 
thought of publishing something in rebition to your 
lil'e-giviiig remedies. Com|Hiuiid Oxygen sloiw my 
cough instantly. A swallow of the Ox\ gonaqna will 
stop the irritation (if the water hax been mote than 
a month in my lionx). So much it has done for an 

Ho. 4.-32 



oM niiin in his eighty-fourth year A young man 
might be cured permanently of all such irritation. 

I recommend Compound Oxygen to all who suffer 
from throat diseases. Yours truly, 

"A Atwood, 8(ia North Seventeenth Street. 
" Philadelphia, June 2, 1886." 

A patient at Olmsted, III., writes: 

" I find that the inhaling of the Oxygen is a great 
remedy for ca<<irr/j. It li.is cured my little boy and 
hcl|ied me. 

" Last Slimmer I sent to you for your Home Treat- 
ment. I snlleied with catai'ilial sore tliio:it .Mter 
using the Oxygen for three months I entinlij re- 
coverrd." 

The following is from an editor in Towa : 

"Office of thk 'Stah-Clippfr,' 
"TuAER, Iowa, May 1, lt<85. 

" Mf-ssrs. Starket & Palkn: bear Hirg, — It affords 
me pleasure to freely offer testimony an to the merits 
ol your Coni]iound Oxygen Treatment, jl/y mother, 

II lady over sixty years old, was induced by a friend 
to try it, and a marked improvi'ment in nuticd in her 
health. The Trealmeitl ntvuiK to build up the syHlem, 
which helpn a patient afflicted with almoi'l any di»rate. 
My mother liail bad head iclie /or mauy yeurg ; this 
has been ultnont cured. .S/.e hnn hud a cough /or twenty 
j/oiirn ; tlii»ha» been ijreatly helped. And in other ways 
the Treatment Add bi-en a benefit to her. The principle 
of the Compound Oryyen it tenmble ; it in natural, and 
/ believe the Treatment is something that would renew 
the health of thousam/s of the suffering and debilitated 
overworked people of America. 

"Klmkr E. Taylor, Editor itor-Ciij'per." 

Padabhoy Byranijee is a gentleman of Bombay, 
India, who has lor some years been living in London. 
For several months he was on a visit to America, and 
one of the principal objects of ihe visit was a search 
for health. Learning of Compound Oxygen, he used, 
in New York, the Home Treatment with good ellect, 
and then in Philadelphia took the Office Treatment. 
Hefore leaving for l^ondou he did us the kindness of 
tlie following letter: 

"Continental Hotel. 

"New York, May 11, 1.98.5. 

"Drs. Starkey & Palen: Dear Sirs, — Bi-f'ore 
leaving New York for London, I desire to express 
my sense of gratitude to you for the benefit I have 
derived from the use of your Compound 0.vygen Gas. 
I have been suffering for the last five years fiom 
chronic bronchitis, contracted in Bombay. During 
this long space of time I tried a great number of 
remedies, but fulled to get rid of it altogether. In 
September last I came to New York, when my atten- 
tion was drawn to your Compouml Oxygen Gas. I 
torlhwith commenced the Treatment under the 
guidance of Dr. Turner, in charge of your de|iot 
here, and, I am glad to say, witli very gratiiyiiig 
results. I feel I am fully fifty per cent, better now 
than I was before I liegan the Treatment Con- 
sidering the obstinate character of tliecom|daint and 
the long number of years it has had its hold upon me, 
I have every reas'in to be satisfied with the pri'gress 
I have made toward recovery lliioiigli the beneficent 
aci ion of your gas. and am fully persuadeil that by 
persevering with the use of this valuable remedy I 
shall be able to shake it off before long. 
"I remain, dear sire, faithlully yours, 

"D. Bvuamjee." 

" However difficult it may be to declare just what 
this new 'Coni]Miund Oxygen' is, it is not difficult 
to be Convinced that Ihe good it is doing mankind 
can scarcely be estimated. We do not proisise here 
to go into a detailed account of indiv.duiil cases, but 
the fact remains nndispiiled that it has cured tliou- 
SHiids of cases I'f many of the ills that llesh is heir 
lo when all other reiiiedie.s have failed. .\ny one 
who wishes to look into this matter further can do 
so by simpiv addressing a ]H>stal to Slarkey it Palen, 
1.5J<J Ai.h Stieel, Philadelpha, Pa., asking for The 
C'lnipiiund O-rygen Tnalmrul, and a iHmk of about 
tuo hnndre<l juigeg will be mailed free of expense. 
In addition to this it also gives many hygienic hints 
worth the time and trouble of reading." — ChriUian 
at Work, Sew I'ork. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



NOW READY. 



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The Responsibility for the Disaster to the Franklin Bay Polar Expedition 

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MAGNETO-ELECTRIC AND DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES. 

Their Construction and Practical Application to Electric Lighting, and the Transmission of 
Power. By Dr. H. Schellen. Translated by N. S. Keith and Percy Neymann. AVith 
large Additions and Notes Relating to American Machines by N. S. Keith. Vol. I. 
With 353 Illustrations. Svo. $5.00. Volume II. /h preparation. 

TEXT-BOOK OF SEAMANSHIP. 

The Equipping and Handling of Vessels under Sail or Steam. For the Use of the U. S. Naval 
Academy. By Commodore S. B. Luce, U. S. Navy. Revised and Enlarged by Lieutenant 
Aaron Ward, U. S. Navy. Royal Svo. 670 pages. With 131 Full-page Plates. $10.00. 

ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES OF THE PRESENT DAY. 

Being a Report of the Paris Electrical Exhibition of 1881. By Major D. P. Heap, Corps of 
Engineers, U.S.A.; Honorary Commissioner to the Exhibition, and Military Delegate to 
the Congress of Electricians. Svo. With 250 Illustrations. Cloth. $2.00. 



IN PRESS. 



HYDRAULIC MINING IN CALIFORNIA. 

By Augustus J. Bowie, Jr. Illustrated. 

D. VAN NOSTRAND, Publisher, 

23 Murray and 27 Warren Streets, New York. 

*is* Copies of above books-sent free bj- mail on receipt of price. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



.ANGLO-QWISS 

'» Milkmaid BrandV CONDENSED ^ 

Economical and convenient for all kitchen purposes. Better for 
babies than uncondensed milk. Sold everywhere. 
ANGLO-SWISS CONDENSED MILK CO. 86 Hudson St. N. Y. P.O. Box3773. 



MILK. 



No more striking evidence of the growth of the business 
in condensed milk can be given than in the statement of the 
Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, that "The annual 
production of condensed milk is estimated at 60,000,000 
cans, manufactured by eleven diflferent firms in EurojjC and 
America, of which the above-named company manufacture 
40,000,000; that is to say, the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk 
Company supply two-thirds of the world's entire demand, 
and the other ten firms the remaining third." This great 
house has its parent establishment in Cham, Switzerland, 
with branches in England and America, and it is claimed' 
that this immense growth is due entirely to the superior and 
uniform purity of their productions, coupled with the low 
prices at which they are sold. 



A 



NGLO-SWISS MILK FOOD 



For Children PAST Teething. 

Write us for testimonials of the medical profession regarding it. 
ANGLO-SWISS CONDENSED MILK CO. 

p. O. Box 3773. 86 HUDSON STKLET, NEW-YOKK. 



Decided superiority is claimed for the Anglo-Swiss Milk 
Food in comparison with any other farinaceous Food for 
infants. No so-called Milk Food consists entirely of milk; 
all are partly composed of cereal products, involving, when 
not properly prepared, the presence of an injurious amount 
of starch, which the highest authorities agree in condemning 
for young children. The Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Com- 
pany overcomes this objectionable feature of Milk Food as 
usually supplied, by meeting an essential requirement in the 
method of preparing it, so that when gradually heated with 
water, according to the directions for use, the starch contained 
in the materials used is converted, in a satisfactory degree, 
into soluble and easily-digestible dextrine and sugar. 

Tlie Anglo-Swiss Milk Food has been found to meet these 
essential conditions to the satisfaction of physicians and others 
who have taken the pains to examine it, and we invite criti- 
cal examimition of it in comparison with any other Food. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



ARMY AND NAVY CLOTHING MADE 
TO ORDER. 









The finest Boys' Clothing of our own make and fine Merchant Tailoring. 
Ladies' Habits and Over Garments Made to Order. 




ss^ss^S^SB^ 



DO YOU WANT A DOG ? 

If so, send for DOG BUYERS- 
GUIDE, containing colored plates, 
loo engravings of different breeds, 
prices they are worth, and where to 
buy them. Also, cuts of Dog Fur- 
nishing Goods of all kinds. Direc- 
tions for Training Dogs and Breed- 
ing Ferrets. Mailed for IS cts. 

ASSOCIATED FANCIERS, 
237S. et h St. Phihc'- 

«ii'^Tiit'»Bi*i!#T«T'«'i-t*"''' -r-fimi 




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BOOR OF CAGE BIRDS^ 

I20 pages, 150 illustrations, beautiful 
colored plate. Treatmentandbreed- 
ing of all kinds cage birds, for 
pleasure AND PROFIT. Diseases 
and their cure. How to build and 
stock an Aviary. All about Parrots. 
Friccsof all kinds birds, cageSi etc. 
Mailed for 15 cents. 

ASSOCIATED FANCIERS, 

3-,7 So. Eight Street, Philadelphia. 



The Arvxy and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 




On heavy plate paper, 22 x 28 inches. Univcisniiv iickniiwipii;;(ii to i.c tin- in'«t and 
Jniost lithi)f;n(piiic portrait- of President Cleveland hihI Vice-President Hendricks (with 
Jefferson, JinkKun, Tilileii, iiiid McClelbin) ever published. All military and Naval Officers, I'obtmaoters, 
and every good Democrat shonld emlicUish their offices and tlioir parlors with this appropriate 
souvenir and stiiiidard iiiastcMpiece of art. Write to the undersinned for sample; mailed to any reader of 
The Ahmy and N^vy Qiahtbhly for 50 cents in stamps or postal note; three for SI; 8>-ven for S2, safely 
tulied. No free coi)ie,s. Confidential terms to those wlio after fir<t order desire to hecoine agents. Rare 
chance to make money. Addp'ss Souvenir Publishing Co., 41 Park Row, N. Y. 

-KS^Oash (hy registered letter, money order, or dnvft) must accompany all onlers. 

"The Philadelphia Call." 

THE BRIGHTEST OF THE HUMOROUS PAPERS. 



FULL OF INNOCENT FUN AND JOKES. 



BETTER THAN QUININE, GINGER, OR BITTERS. 



For Sale by All ]\e^T!>idcaler.s. 



FIVE CENTS A COPY. ISSUED SATURDAY. 



SPECIMEN COPIES MAILED FREE. 



Address ROBERT S. DAVIS, 

Proprietor of THE CALL, PUILADELPIIIA, PENx\. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 




Electric Appliances are sent on 30 Days' Trial. 

TO MEN GS^LY, YOUNQ OR OLD, 

■\TrEO are suffering from Nbrvocs Debility, 
VV Lost Vitality, Lack of Neuve Force and 
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Tlie grandest discovery of the Nineteenth Century. 
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VOLTAIC t5£LTG0.,KlARSHAlL.RllCH. 



DR. DYE'S ELECTRO-VOLTAIC BELT 

AND OTHER 

ELECTRIC APPLIANCES 

ARE ALSO A SURE CURE FOR 

RHEUMATISM. NEURALGIA, PARALYSIS, 

AND MANY OTHER DISEASES. 

Thousands of Testimonials verify their Great Curative 

Powers. 

EEMEMBER THAT THIRTY DAYS' TRIAL IS ALLOWED. 



Do not delay in writing at once for Illustrated Pamphlet and full 
particulars to the 

VOLTAIC BELT CO., 

Marshall, Micli. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



TO THE 



Officers of the Army. 




Last summer, at the request of 
Captain Eogers, U.S.A., represent- 
ing the Quartermaster-General, we 
designed and made a model over- 
coat, which, having been submitted 
to a board of officers, and approved 
by Lieutenant- General Sheridan, 
has been adopted for the use of 
officers in the army of the United 
States. We are prepared to fur- 
nish this coat complete for $75, and 
without the hood, which is not es- 
sential except in very cold climates, 
for %(j^, and being the original de- 
signers of the garment, are able to 
guarantee perfect conformity with 
the model. Rules for self-measure- 
ment will be furnished on applica- 
tion. Correspondence invited. 

GLEASOiNT & CO., 

S"U"cc£:ssoI^s to h:o"^t & C3- Xi e jl s o isr, 
1517 CHESTNUT STREET, 

PHILADHLPHIA, PA. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



JIew and Interesting JIovels 

PUBI^ISHED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, 

715 and 717 Market Street, Philadelphia. 



FOR LILIAS. 

J^TTTHORIZED E DITIOIT. 

A Novel. By Rosa N. Carey, author of "Barbara Heathcote's Trial," "Not Like Other 
Girls," " Nellie's Memories," etc. 16mo. Paper cover. 25 cents. Attractively bound 
in cloth, ink and gold ornaments. 75 cents. 

Miss Carey is the author of sevpral desprvedly popular novels, among which " Not Like Other Girls'' 
■will rank with the best worlds of fiction. Her books are fresh, sweet stories of girl-life, full of freuiiiue 
feeling, hearty and home-like, with nothing but good in them. "For Lilias" will be found to sustain the 
high reputation of the talented authoress. 

A IVIODEL WIFE. 

A Novel. By G. I. Cervus, author of "White Feathers." ]2mo. Extra cloth. $1.00. 

A very entertaining story of life in and about New York City. The narrative throughout displays an 
extraordinary knowledge of human nature, and abounds with such descriplions and incidents as will in- 
terest the reader, and doubtless secure for the volume a hearty welcome. 

THE LADY WITH THE RUBIES. 

A Novel. From the German of E. Marlitt. Translated by Mrs. A. L. AVister. 12mo. 
Extra cloth. $1.25. 

"An exceptionally interesting story, abounding in action and incident, the plot well constructed and 
skilfully wrought out. Marlitt has produced a story of great beauty and power, and Sirs. Winter has given 
to the English reader not only a grammatically accurate translation, but has caught and infused into it the 
spirit of the refined genius of the author." — Ballimore Evening News. 

BARBARA HEATHCOTE'S TRIAL. 



A Novel. By Rosa Nouchette Carey, author of " Robert Ord's Atonement," " Nellie's 
Memories," etc. 16mo. Paper cover. 25 cents. Attractively bound in cloth, ink and 
gold ornaments. 75 cents. 
"Well worth reading. The pure, fresh, natural atmosphere in which the reader finds himself is in 

itself a charm. The book is one that can inspire only pure fancies and earnest thoughts, and, as such, 

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**0 TENDER DOLORES. '' 

.A-TTTHOR-IZEID EIDITIOIT. 

A Novel. By the "DrcHES.s," author of " Doris," " Phyllis," etc. 12mo. Paper cover. 25 
cents. Attractively bound in cloth, ink and gold ornaments. 75 cents. 
" Tjike all from her pen it is a love-story, with every charm of freshness and naturalness. Sentimental 

without exaggeration, vivid, absorbing, and romantic, all within the bounds of probability." — Philadelphia 

Saturday Evening Post. 

A MAIDEN ALL FORLORN , 

And Other Stories. By the "Duchess," author of "0 Tender Dolores," "Phyllis," "Mrs. 
Geoffrey," etc. 12mo. Paper cover. 25 cents. Attractively bound in cloth, ink and 
gold ornaments. 75 cents. 
" Unusually good. There is not, in short, one dull page." — London Morning Post. 

ONE OF THE DUANES. 

By Alice King Hamilton. 12mo. Extra cloth. $1.25. 

"Adds another to the few really good army novels that have been published during the last few years. 
It is good for its spirited 8t\ le ; for its bright and life-like ]>ictures of social life at the distant military post, 
where the officers' wives and daughters form the aristocracy and society leaders; for its artistic character 
sketching ; and for the deeply absorbing interest of the story that runs easily and consistently through the 
whole." — Boston Home Journal. 

TROUBLED WATERS. 

A Problem of To-Day. A Novel. By Beverley Ellison Warner. 12mo. Extra cloth. 

$1.25. 

" An essay in much the same field as 'The Bread- Winners ;' it is a far more agreeable book than that." 
— Boston Literary World. 

" Is an original and deeply interesting story, written with the grace of style that betrays the cultivated 
author, and touching upon great problems in a way to suggest neither the absurd idealist, nor the un- 
necessary alarmist, nor the man with a special theory. It is long since we have had a better story of its 
kind." — New York Critic. 

For Sale by all Booksellers, or will be sent by Mail, Postage Prepaid, on 
Keceipt of Price by the Publishers. 



The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



CARPETING. 

WILTONS, AXMINSTERS, MOQUETTES, 

VELVETS, BODY BRUSSELS, 

TAPESTRY BRUSSELS, AND INGRAINS, 

AND MATTINGS. 

Being manufacturers, retail buyers can save intermediate profits by dealing 
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cent, below market value. We guarantee every Carpet of our own make. 

J. & J. DOBSON, 

MANUFACTURERS, 

809, 811, and 813 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 




lU The Army and JSavy (Quarter iy A.avertiser. 

SEED© 
FOST Q^^HDENS 



Profitable Gardening depends first of all upon procuring SEEDS of VITALITY 
and PURITY. Such can be had from OUR ESTABLISHMENT. We ever have 
been the oldest and most extensive 

SEED GROWERS aw SEED MERCHANTS 

IN THE UNITED STATES. 

We cordially invite all interested to visit and critically inspect our Seed Farms, 
feeling confident that the areas, varied soils and climates, systems of cultivation, 
drying houses, steam machinery, implements and appurtenances generally, will 
demonstrate our abilitj'^ to produce larger, more varied, and better stock than any 
other party in the Seed Trade. We have always been by far 

The Largest Producers of Garden Seeds in America. 

Our farms do not exist upon paper, but can be found by any inquirer ; and in the 
selection of stocks and systems of culture we have as a firm the advantages of very 
NEARLY A CENTURY OF EXPERIENCE. Our farms are situated at 

BRISTOL , Bucks Co. . Pa. MANITO WOC, Manitowoc Co. , Wis. 

BURLINGTON, Burlington Co.. N. J. MONASKON. Lancaster Co.. Va. 

The whole comprising a total of 1^7^ JLcres^ owned, occupied, and cultivated 
by ourselves. Upon these lands we have applied in a single season $20,000 worth 
of purchased fertilizers, a fact which exhibits the magnitude of our operations. 

THE STOCK SEEDS 

from which all our crops are grown on all the farms are produced on Bloomsdale, 
the Pennsylvania farm, and under the daily scrutiny of the proprietors, are thor- 
oughly culled of all departures from the true types, and produce crops of such purity 
of strain as to warrant us in declaring that none are Superior and few Equal! 

Commanders of Government Posts who favor us with their orders can rely upon 
being supplied upon most liberal terms. 

HOR TICULTURAL REQ UISITES. 

Post Farmers, Gardeners, or Elorists desiring Tools or Appliances for the Field, 
Garden, or Hot House, will, upon application to us, be promptly furnished with 
Prices which, upon examination, will be found as low as those of other dealers. 

BOOKS-250 DISTINCT PUBLICATIONS 

upon the subjects of the Breeding and Management of Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine, 
Poultry, Bees, and upon the Culture of Cotton, Tobacco, Flax, Roses, and Bedding 
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Send for our Catalogues of Books, Bulbous Roots, Seeds, Tools, Garden Ornaments. 

We publish Catalogues of Seeds in English, German, Swedish, and Spanish. 

These Catalogues will be furnished gratuitously 
upon application. 

DAVID LANDRETH & SONS, 
Seed Growers, 

PHILADELPHIA. 




The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 11 



©TA.ISDA.TM3 MOUSE II01L.T» HEMIEDIES. 



DR. D. JAYNE'S FAMILY MEDICINES 

Are prepared >vitli event care, expressly for Family Use, and are so adiiiirnbly 

calculated to preserve health and remove disease, that no family 

should be >vithout tiiem. They consist of 

Jayne's Expectorant, for Colds, Coughs, Asthmu, Consumption, and all Pulmo- 
nary and Bronchial AttVctions. It promotes expectoration and allays inflammation. 

Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge, for Worms, Dyspepsia, Piles, General Debility, etc. 
An excellent Tonic for Children, and a beneficial remedy in many of the ailments 
of the j-oung. 

Jayne's Carminative Balsam, for Bowel and Summer Complaints, Colics, Cramp, 
Cholera, etc. A certain cure for Diarrhcea, Cholera Morbus, and Inflammation of 
the Bowels. 

Jayne's Alterative, of established efficacy in Purifying the Blood, and for curing 
Scrofula, Goitre, Dropsy, Salt Khoum, Epilepsy, Cancers, and Diseases of the Skin 
and Bones. 

Jayne's Ague Mixture, for the cure of Fever and Ague, Intermittent and Remit- 
tent Fevers, etc. These distressing complaints are very generally eradicated by 
this remedy when taken strictly as directed. 

Jayne's Liniment or Counter Irritant, for Sprains, Bruises, Soreness in the 
Bones or Muscles, libeumatism, and useful in all cases where an external application 
is required. 

Jayne's Sanative Pills, a valuable Purgative, and a certain cure for all Bilious 
Affections, Liver Complaints, Costiveness, Dyspepsia, and Sick Headache. 

Jayne's Hair Tonic, for the Preservation, Beauty, Growth, and Restoration of 
the lliiir. A ploiisaiit dressing for the hair, and a useful toilet article. 

Jayne's Specific for Tape Worm, a certain, safe, and prompt remedy. 

In settlements und localities whero the ullendance of a physician cannot bo readily 
obtained, families will find these remedies of great service. The directions which 
accompany them are in plain, unprofessional language, easily understood by all; 
and in addition, Jayne's Medical Almanac and Guide to Health, to be had gratis of 
all agents, contains besides a reliable Calendar, a Catalogue of Diseases, the si/mp' 
ioms by which theii viny he known, togethor with advice as to the proper remedies 
to be u>od. All of Dr. D. Jayne & Son's Family Medicines are sold by Drug- 
gists everywhere. 



12 The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



]VE1V TV^ORK BY AD]MIRAL. PORTER. 



The Adventures of Harry Marline; 

OR, NOTES FROM AN AMERICAN MIDSHIPMAN'S LUCKY BAG. 

By ADMIRAL POUTER, Author of "Allan Dare and Robert le Diable," etc. 
With Illustrations. 8vo. 378 Pages. Paper. Price, $1.00. 



A book of rollicking and stirring adventures. The picture of the midshipmen in 
the olden times will delight our middies of the present day. 



For sale by all Booksellers, or will be sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price. 

D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 

1, 3, and 5 Bond Street, New Torle. 



THE GRANT CAMPAIGNS, 

As told in three volumes selected from the series " Campaigns of the 
Civil War," which the Cincinnati ComnierciaL calls 

" The ablest and most strildng account of the late war that has yet been written. Choosing 
the flower of military/ authors, the publishers have assigned to each the task of writing the his- 
tory of the events he knew most about. Thus, both accuracy and a life-like freshness have been 
secured." 

Three Volumes. 12mo, $1.00 each. 

THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN OF '64 AND '65. THE ARMY 
OF THE POTOMAC AND THE ARMY OF THE JAMES. 

By Andrew A. Humphreys, Brigadier-General and Bvt. Major-General, U. S. 
Army. 

FROM FORT HENRY TO CORINTH. 

By the Hon. M. F. Force, Justice of the Superior Court, Cincinnati ; late Briga- 
dier-General and Bvt. Major-General, U.S.V. 

THE MISSISSIPPI. 

By Francis Vinton Greene, Lieutenant of Engineers, U. S. Army. 



For sale by all Booksellers, or sent, postpaid, on receipt of price by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers. 



The Ai-viy and Na\}y Qriarterly Advertiser. 13 



GIVEN 



iA WAY ! 



EVEKY YEAKLY SUBSCRIBER TO THE 

"HEARTHSTONE," 

AT THREE DOLLARS PER YEAR, 

IS PRESENTED WITH EITHER 

WEBSTER'S PRACTICAL DICTIONARY, 
DR. FOOTE'S PLAIN HOME TALKS, 
OUR WESTERN BORDER, by mcKmoht, 

OR NAVAL BATTLES, by Dr. Shippen, U. S. Navy. 



The last two volumes retail at $3 each. 
Send your name on a postal card, and full particulars 
v/ill be sent you. Address 

HEARTHSTONE PUBLISHING CO., 

268 and 270 Souih Mnth Street, 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



14 The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 

THOMAS B. HAGSTOZ. JAMES BUBDICK. 




T. B. HAGSTOZ & CO., 

SUCCESSOBS TO 

The only house in Philadelphia making a 

specialty of 

Diamonds and Precious Stones. 

ALSO •WHOLESALE DEALEBS IN 

Jewelry^ Watches , and Optical Goods. 

Mutual Life Insurance Company Building, 

TEISTTS j^lSTID OHZESTHSTXJT STS., 
PHILADELPHIA. 



2 Tie Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 15 

CIRGULATIOH^ lOO^OOO. 



THE 



PHILADELPHIA RECORD 



THE GREAT DAILY OF THE KEYSTONE STATE, 



Issued every day, including Sunday, it forms an uninterrupted and 
unrivaled channel of communication, with a constituency of readers 
which is not excelled in any quarter in number, intelligence, or am- 
plitude of means. 

In addition to exceptionally full reports of occurrences, — local, 
domestic, and foreign, — the "Eecord" gives especial pi'ominence to 
agricultural, scientific, sporting, and dramatic notes and events, house- 
hold knowledge, fashions, etc. 

Fearless editorials on all important topics are features of the 
paper. 



A VALUABLE PAPER FOR ANY LOCALITY. 



ADDRESS 

THE PHILADELPHIA EECORD, 

917 and 919 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 



16 The Army and Navy Quarterly Advertiser. 



How Consumption Comes. 

You feel under par. You are heavy 
and draggy. Your appetite fails. You 
are off in color. You are weak and short 
of breath after exertion. Your skin is 
clammy at times ; at other times feverish. 
You cough drj'ly. Your rest is broken. 
You are annoyed with night sweats. You 
lose flesh, worry, get nervous, fail more 
and more. 

A CRITICAL PERIOD. 

This is the period when tubercles are 
forming in the lungs. Your lungs are a 
magazine. A spark, like a cold, may in 
flame them and ripen the dreaded tuber- 
cles. Then you have consumption. 

BREAK IT UP. 

Can you do it? Beyond a doubt. Go 
right to the root of the trouble, which is 
not in the lungs, but in the stomach, the 
liver. The active principle of Mandrake, 
as found in Dr. Schenck's Mandrake 
Pills, is nature's remedy for that condi- 
tion of stomach and liver which precedes 
Consumption and invites it. Cleanse the 
system thoroughly. Change the entire 
secretions. Set the organs in healthy 
action. To help nutrition and bring 
about good, rich blood, use the Seaweed 
Tonic, which promotes appetite, favors 
assimilation of food, and enriches the 
blood. 

IN CASE OF NEGLECT. 

But if you have allowed the tubercles to 
get into the lungs, then the previous treat- 
ment must be assisted by Dr. Schenck's 
Pulmonic Syrup, which ripens the tuber- 
cles and helps the lungs to throw the 
ripened matter off. It cleanses and heals 
the sore spots by its action on the blood, 
and works a perfect cure. Dr. Schenck's 
remedies for Consumption are made to 
co-operate to one end, and thus save 
precious time and the vital forces as well. 
No other tr<^atment has such a world- 
wide reputation. It has stood the test 
of over half a centurj', and its cures are 
numbered by the tens of thousands. 



I>r, Scliencli's 

WORLD-RENOWNED REMEDIES. 

standards for over Half a Century. 
Proved on every Continent. Ac- 
cepted in every family. Praised on 
every Trial. 

Cure indigestion, sour 
stomach, heartburn, 
flatulency, colic, and all 
diseases of the stomachj 
costiveness, inflamma- 
tion, diarrhoea, piles, 
and diseases of the 
bowels; congestion, bili- 
ousness, jaundice, nau- 
sea, headache, giddi- 
ness, nervousness, wan- 
dering pains, chills and 
fevers, malaria, liver 
complaint, blood pois- 
oning, and all diseases 
arising from a gorged 
and sluggish liver. 
They clean the mucous 
coats, reduce gorged or congested conditions, 
break up stubborn comiilications, restore free, 
healthy action to the organs, and give the sys- 
tem a chance to recover tone and strength. 

Is recognized every- 
where as the best known 
remedy for colds, con- 
gestions, and inflamma- 
tions in the throat, 
pipes, and lungs, and 
all diseases of the chest 
or other parts where 
matter has to be ripened 
and thrown off. It is 
an invaluable part of 
l)r. Schenck's celebra- 
ted treatment of Con- 
sumption of the Lungs, 
which has been used in 
the largest special prac- 
tice in the United 
States, if not in the 
world, for over fifty years, and which has 
resulted in so many permanent cures. 



DR. 
SCHENCK'S 



N 
D 
R 
A 
K 
£ 
PILLS 



DR. 
SCHENCK'S 

P 

u 



M 

O 

N 

I 



SYRUP 



A NEW AND EXCELLENT BOOK. 

Dr. Schenck has just published a useful and 
interesting work on the Lungs, the Liver, and 
the Stomach. It treats of the function of these 
great organs, and of their diseases and their 
cures. It ought to be in the hands of every 
one, but especially in the hands of sufierers 
from Dyspepsia, Liver Complaint, and Lung 
affections. Sent free. 

DR. SCHENCK'S MEDICINES, 

TS/LsLim.cXrsilsL.G) Pills, 

are sold by all Druggists, and full directions for their use are printed 
on the wrappers of every package. Address all coinmunicatious to 
DR. J. H. SCHENCK & SON, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Penn Mutual JLife 



PUREI^Y MLUTUAl,.-.-! i-t-Iiicorporated 1847. 



ONE OF THE OLDEST, STRONGEST, AND BEST. 



3a8h Assets, January I, 1885 
Surplus over all Liabilities 



$9,663,884.26. 
- 1,812,360.34. 



THE PENN MUTUAL issues all approved forms of Life and Endowment 
Policies, surplus being available in reduction of the Skcond and succeeding pay- 
nents. Such returns of surplus have reduced the average cost of insurance much 
)elow the figures of many firat-class competitors. Its Non-Forfelture and Exten- 
lion systems, voluntarily adopted, are the most liberal extant, full reserve being 
ipplied at lapse to extension of original sum insured, or to the purchase of Paid-up 
nsurance, as may be desired. 

ALL POLICIES NOW ISSUED CONTAIN WE FOLLOWING: 

" After three years from the date hereof, the only conditions which shall be hind- 
' ing upon the lawful holder of this Policy are, that the premiums shall be paid at 
' the times and place and in the ynanner herein stipulated, and that the provisions of 
' this Policy as to the age, residence, travel, and employments of the insured shall 
' be observed, and that in all other respects, if this policy matures after the expiration 
' of said three years, it shall be indisputable.'^ 



Investment, or Accumulated Surplus, Policies present the ad' 
vantages of Endowment and other forms at a less rate of 
premium. 

Officers i)i' the Armj- and Navy may pay premiums in monthly installments if 
lesired, and are not required to pay any extra premium for "climate risk" while 
n the service. 

S. 0. HUEY, President. 
i. M. NEEDLES, Vice-President. H. 0. BROWN, Secretary. 

H. S. STEPHENS, 2d Vice-President. J, J. BARKER, Actuary. 

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TORSTENSON: 



"A HERO OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.' 



Tor^gten^on betoe Vieqna; 



THE SWEDES I]^ AUSTRIA, 



In 1645—1646. 

WITH A 



BIOGRAfHICAL SKETCJH 



FIELD-MARSHAL GENERALISSIMUS LEONARD TORSTENSON. 

" Om denna hfehens ara 
Europa hapen an hat evigt vittiie bara." 

SVENSKA FrIHBKRN. 

BY 

J. WATTS DE PEYSTER, LL.D., A.M. 

BREV. MAJ.-GEN., S. N. Y. 



CHARLES H. LUDWIG, PRINTER, 10 & 12 READE STREET. 
1885. 



ij:i:i:i;ii;;;i:4;s;i:ii[epiii;:ii;"i;;3;;;ii 



J^IST OF :P>UBLICATI0NS. 



§. Watfe At ^npttx : 



Master of Arts, Columbia College, of New York, 1872.— Hon. Mem. Clarendon Hist. Soc, Edinburgh, Scotland ; of the New Brunswick 
Hist. Soc, St. John, Canada; of the Hist. Soc. of Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, ic; Life Mem. Roj-al Hist. Soc. of 
Great Britain, London, Eng.; Mem. Maatschappij Xederlandschc, I,ctterl£unde, Leyden, Holland. Ac, &c. — Colonel 
N. Y. .S. I , 1846, assigned for "meritorious conducV to command of 22d Regimental District, M. V. S. X. Y., 
1849, Brigadier General ior'*important service" [first appointment — in X.Y. State — to that rank, hither- 
to elective], 1851, M. F. S. N. Y.— Adjutant General, S. X. Y., 1855.— Brevet Major-General, 
S. X. Y., for ^^meritoriojia services" by "Special Act" or "Concurrent Resolution," 
N. Y. State Legislature, April, 1866 [Drst and only General officer receiving 
such an honor (the highest) from S. N Y., and the only officer 
thvf brovetted (Major. General) in the United States.] 

AUTHOR OF 

Reports — ist. On the Organizations of the National Guards and Municipal Military Institutions of 
Europe, and the Artillery and Arms best adapted to the St.ite Service, 1852. (Reprinted by order 
of the N. Y. State Legislature, Senate Documents, No. 74, March 26, 1853.) 2d. Organizations of 
the English and Swiss Militia, the French, Swiss, and Prussian Fire Departments. Suggestions 
for the Organization of the N. Y. Militia, &c. 1853. 

Life of (the Swedish Field Marshal) Leonard Torstenson ( rewarded with three splendid Silver Medals, 
&c., by H. R. M. Oscar L, King of Sweden). 1855. — Thirty Years War, and Military Services of 
Field-Marshal Generalissimo Leonard Torstenson (Series), N. Y. Weekly Mail, 1873 ; -^ Hero of the 
XVn. Century (Torstenson). — The Volunteer, Weekly Mag., Vol. L,No. L, 1869. — The Career of the 
celebrated Condottiere Fra Moreale, Weekly Mail, 1873. — Frederic the Great. (Series.) Weekly Mail, 
1873. — Eulogy of Torstenson, 410., 1872. 

The Dutch at the North Pole, and the Dutch in Maine. 1857. 

Appendix to the Dutch at the North Pole, &c. 1858. 

Ho, for the North Pole ! i860.—" Littell's Living Age."— The Dutch Battle of the Baltic. 1858. 

The Invincible Armada. (Series.) i86o.^Examples of Intrepidity, as illustrated by the Exploits and 
Deaths of the Dutch Admirals. (Series.) 1860-1. Military Gazette. 

Gems from Dutch History. (Series.) 1855. — A Tale of Leipsic, Peabody's Parlor Mag., 1832. 

Carausius, the Dutch Augustus, and Emperor of Britain and the Menapii. 1858. 

The Ancient, Mediseval and Modern Netherlanders. 1859. 

Address to the Officers of the New York State Troops. 1858. 

Life of Lieut.-Gen. ( famous "Dutch Vauban" — styled the "Prince of Engineers") Menno, Baron 
Cohorn. (Series.) i860. — Military Lessons. (Series.) 1861-3. — Winter Campaigns. 1862. 

Practical Strategy, as illustrated by the Life and Achievements of a Master of the Art, the Austrian 
Field-Marshal, Traun. 1863. — Personal and Military History of Major-General Philip Kearny, 
512 pp., 8vo. 1869. — Secession in Switzerland and the United States compared ; being the Annual 
Address, delivered 20th October, 1863, before the Vermont State Historical Society, in the Hall of 
Representatives, Capitol, Montpelier. 1864. 

Incidents connected with the War in Italy. (Series.) 1859. 

Mortality among Generals. (Series.) 1861. — The Battle of King's Mountain. (Series.) 1861-2, 1880. 
Oriskany, 1878 — Monmouth, 1878 — Rhode Island, 1878. 

Facts or Ideas Indispensable to the Comprehension of War; Notions on Strategy and Tactics. (Series.) 1861- 
2. Eclaireur, Military Journal. (Edited.) 1854-S. — In IMemoriam. (Edited.) ist, 1857 ; 2d, 1862. 
The Bible in Prison. 1853. — A. Discourse on the Tendency of High Church Doctrines. 1855. 

A Night with Charles XII. of Sweden. A Nice Young Man. Parlor Dramas. 1860-1. 

Aculco, Oriskany, and Miscellaneous Poenis. 18C0. 

Genealogical References of Old Colonial Families, &c. 1851. 

Biographical Notices of the de Peyster Family, in connection with the Colonial History of New York. 
1861. — Biographies of the Watts, de Peyster, Reade, and Leake Families, in connection with 
Trinity Churchyard. 1862. — Military (1776-1779) Transactions of Major, afterwards Colonel 8th or 
King's Foot, B. A., Arent Schuyler de Peyster and Narrative of the Maritime Discoveries of his 
namesake and nephew, Capt. Arent Schuyler de Peyster, N. Y., 1870. — Local Memorials relating to 
the de Peyster and Watts and affiliated families. 1S81. — In Memoriam, Frederic de Peyster, Esq., 
LL.D., Prest. N. Y. Historical Society, St. Nicholas Society, St. Nicholas Club, &c., &c. 1882. 

( Continued on third jiage of cover.) 




From the Original, presented to Gen. J. Watts de Peyster, by Col. Count Kric de Lewenhaupt, Privy Secretary 
to H. K. M. Oscar I., King of Sweden, in 1850. 



LEONARD TORSTENSON. 

(The Lion-strong Son of the Stone of the Thunder God.) 

Field Marshal-Generalissimo of the Swedish Armies in Germany, 

Governor-General of Pomerania, 

Hereditary Lord of Reisa, Flirstenau and Reisigkh, Baron of Wiersta (Worestadh) 

and Count of Ortala, 

&c., &c. 

Born 17TH August, 1603. Died 7TH April, 1651. 



TORSTENSON BEFORE VIENNA. 



DIE 

SCHVVEDEN IN OESTERREICH 

MDCXLV.- MDCXLVI. 

E I N B E 1 T R A G 

7.VR 

GESCHICHTE DES DREISSIGJAHRIGEN KRIEGES 

VON 

JOSEPH FEIL. 



A TRANSLATION, .WITH NOTES, 

BY 

^ J. WATTS (le PKYSTHK. ^ 

I LINK, 1885. 



NEW YORK: 

Chaui.ks H. Li'pwk;, Pkinikk, 10 & 13 Heaok Stkket. 

I !S .S a . 




s--x^^?^- 



.■v-s-<xv%^"V^'*.-<V^''5''^-N^ N" 



J, WATTS DE PEYSTER, 

A. M , tt. D. 

Life Member of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. 

Member of the Netherlands Literary Association, Leyden, Holland 

Honorary Member of New Jersey, Minnesota, Montana and 

New Brunswick (Canada) Historical Societies, 

Third Army Corps Union. 

&c., &c., <fec. 

Author of the " Life of Field-Marshal Leonard Torstenson, Swedish 

Generalissimo," " History of the Thirty Years' War," 

&c. &c., &c. 



sor^sseasoR. 



Feii/s " Die Schweden in Oesterreich." 



Page 379. No'i'K. — It was not until the time of the Kniperor 
Ai,Hf:RT II. [|)reviously Duke of Austria, long before] [March, 
1438 — October, 1439 J that Vienna was connected with tlie further 
side of the river by bridges. Shortly before his death, 4th July, 
1439, '^*^ '"'''^^^ deterniineil to build such, at his own and the city's 
expense, over all the islands between the two banks, supported by 
a fixed toll, yet crossing by them was not made compulsory, since 
it was still allowed to cross by water from the old landing places 
(Hormayer's " Wien," iii. c. 57-58, from the Town Records). 
Then the Emperor Frederick 111. allowed, 13th May, 1440, that 
the Viennese, who had already been at consiilerable expense for 
furnishing timber, ^:c., might api)ly the income from the tolls, 
first of all to a. i)reliminary covering of the cost of building the 
bridge. He himself, 29th August, 1440, and King Ladislaus, jGth 
May, 1453, confirmed the above pledge of the Emperor Albert 
II. (The documents in reference to this in the Town Archives, 
l)rinted in Weschel's " Leopoldstadt," Vienna, 1824, Urk. Books 
No. Vlll., IX. and X., pp.. 11, 12 and 14.) Thus were these 
bridges built — the first in Austria [proper] ; for that at Krems 
was not built until 1463-1464, that at Linz, 1497 (Hormayer's 
" Wien," viii. p. 48). 

Care was taken at once, to protect the newly erected bridges 
by entrenchments [bridge-heads]; one such for the middle bridge, 
a second thrown up on the so-called Neubruche (fresh land) and the 
third the Wolfs-schanze (Fortalicium in lupe proper pontem), are 
found already mentioned in the year 1484, when Matthias Cor- 
vinus appeared before Vienna for the second time (Dr. Tkhtels' 
" Contemporaneous Diary," in Rauch, Script. Rer. Aust., II. 
544, 545). On the 1 8th Dec. 1540, the city of Vienna under- 
took all receipts and expenditures for the Long Danube Bridge 
on its own account {/for/nayer's " Wien," IV. a. 2 17-21 8), Wolf- 
gang Schmahrs " I'anegyric on the City of Vienna," 1547. 
1548 and 1849, published at Vienna in 8vo., also copied in Hor- 



mayer's " Wien," VII., Urk. Buch No. ccxxiii.) gives exactly the 
length of these dififerent bridges. The Wolfsbridge 260 paces, 
Schritte, 520 feet, has 13 Joche (supports) ; the next in length 160 
paces, Schritte, 320 feet and 8 Joche (supports); the Longbndge, 500 
paces, Schritte, looo feet and 30 Joche (supports) ; finally the 
Schlachtbrucke, 96 paces, Schritte, 192 feet and 5 Joche (supports). 
The direction which the bridge then took, more westerly than at 
present, can be exactly made out from old plans and drawings, 
such as that on the copperplate of Lazen's "Topography," 
which contains Vienna, first and original edition 1561 ; also on a 
woodcut in the description ot the public entrance of the Em- 
peror Maximilian II., after being crowned at Frankfort, which 
appeared in 1563. (The title of this already very scarce publi- 
cation (piece ot printing) is cited in '■'■Vogel and Griiber's Spec. 
Bibliotheca Aust.," II., 636 ; also in Schirmer^s " Wien seit 6 
Jahrhunderten," Vienna 1847, II., 289, in which last the book is 
more particularly described. Further in Vise her' s " Topography 
of Lower Austria," 1672 (in the to this appended general view 
of Vienna from the south, there is clearly depicted, with the 
drawing of the Kahlenberg, the star fort (Stern-schanze) beyond 
the Wolfs-au). Also in the well-known large picture which repre- 
sents the Turkish siege of the year 1683. Ot this (picture) the 
chief part with the view of Vienna on a smaller scale is appended 
to Dr. JV. Hocke's description of this siege, published in Vienna, 
1685, and in a copy of the picture (last-named) appended to 
Geiisaii's " History of Vienna," IV., 160. The above-mentioned 
woodcut of the year 1563 shows the road through the Schotten-au 
(at present Brigitten-au) as being probably on account of the clay 
soil a corduroy road (Holztreppel Weg) raised on piles. To the 
right of the drawbridge lay a shooting-box, Schishutt, and further 
in the same direction lEGER-haus (Jagerhaus) at about the end of 
the now-a-day J^ciger Zeile. At the beginning ot the bridge 
which leads over into the Wolfs-au (on this cut designated simply 
as Wolf) was a Theber and to the left of this a Svdelkvche, 
either a cooking place where lard was tried out (wo Fettesausge- 
kocht wird) or more probably a guard kitchen (compare Frisch's 
" Worterbuch," Berlin, 1741, p. 355c and 357c). To the right of 
the "Thebers " on the bank, a little more remote, on the right 
corner of the Schoten-av, several houses are designated and 
close by them Eis Grub ; about halfway between this and the 
above-named " lEOERhaus " several buildings are again seen, 
among them one exceptionally large, with a tower-like addition 
and a sign Glas Hvt, without doubt a glass factory, which gave 
to the present yager-zej/e its former name of " Venediger-Au " 
(Venetian meadow), erected in i486 by Nicholaus Walch, the first 



5 

Venetian-glass blower (.Wrt-.i^rA'i- Wk. Sk., V. ii). The learned 
English doctor of medicine, Edward Browne, whose travels 
through the Netherlands, Germany, &ic., were printed at Nurem- 
berg, in 1686, and who (as may be seen on p. 196) was in 
Vienna, iG-ji-'y^, says, on leaving the city, 1673, p. 271 : 

" / was ohlii:^ed topass (yfcr the '^reat Vienna brid^^e which crosses 
the broad Danube, and to pass the chapel oj St. Bridget which is 
built with eii^ht corners. This bridi^e is a great, solid and strong 
2iiork, and stands on four supports ( J^oche), ivJiich are overlaid with 
from two to three thousand cross-beams, upon which lie the flooring 
( Ober-zimmer holzerj, over which one rides and walks, as briiiges 
are generally built in Germany. — (Author has omitted the stretch- 
ers. — Tr.) At Ratisbon there is a beautiful stone bridge over the 
Danube and thetice down to Vie?ina there are several others — 
wooden ones — but from VieJina down to Greek- Weissenburg, or 
Belgrade (Alba Grceca ), I could see none other than bridges of 
boats'' 

It was not until 1688- 1698 that the road with the connecting 
bridges, from Vienna across the Danube, obtained the direction 
which it now follous [Bergenstamni's " Gesch. des unteren Werds " 
— Islands), [Leopoldstadt] Vienna, i8i2,p. ^o,di\?,om Mormayer's 
" Wien," IV., b. 221-222, and Weschel, I., c. 315). An atlas 
prepared under the supervision of the Oberst-Jagermeister, 
Count Julius Hardegg, for the use of the Emperor Charles VI., 
in 1726, ".\tlas der kaiserlichen Wild-bahnen — game tracks," 
in Austria and on the Enns (ist part, the Ebersdorfer district, 
with the Prater and city grounds.) This may now be found in the 
Imp. Roy. Library (73, D, 12 Atlas o, Tab. LVII.) It shows on 
the other side of the Brigitten-au as still existing the 
" Wolf-Schiitt " and upon (iiber) the " alten Stuben," is the so- 
called " Louis- Sc ha nze,'' jierhaps a remainder, or, at least, nearly 
on the location of the old ]Volfs-schanze. 

(353) i '''•^ ^^'^^' sustained essentially by German blood, now 
[1645] had turned with the full force of its afflictions into Austrian 
lands. As formerly Thurn, with Bohemian warriors, first alone 
and then allied with Bethlen Gabor (June and November, 
1619), so now the Swede 'J'orsten.son, with an army chiefly 
composed of Germans, stood before the gates of Vienna, and 
it seemed as if Austria, after the sacrifices of seven and twenty 
years of misfortune, must finally lose her pre-eminence in 
Germany and her preponderance in Europe. 

(355) Field-Marshal Gustavus Horn and General Johannes 
Baner were, after the death of the king, Gustavus Adolphus [1632], 
entrusted with the chief command of the Swedish-German armies, 
the last soon alone, when Horn (taken prisoner at Nordlingen, 



27th August, 1633) suftered seven years' captivity. When Baner 
closed his heroic career in death (loth May, 1641), Leonhard 
ToRSTENSON, his companion in arms, and next to the fallen king, 
the greatest Stveiiish general of the time, succeeded him as com- 
mander-in-chief. His titles were Leonhard Torstenson, General- 
Field-Marshal of the Crown of Sweden in Germany, Hereditary 
Lord of Reisa, Furstenau and Resigkh, &c. In 1647 he was 
raised to the dignity of Count of Ortala, 

Long imprisonment and multiplied exposures in the field had 
indeed crippled his body, but not his mind, which surmounted 
all obstacles from corporeal suffering, and which was animated by 
undiminished power and acuteness, as he most abundantly proved. 
He had but just, with great difficulty, obtained a furlough from 
military service in the spring of 1641, when the government 
appointed him, rtii' ///^ /^(fj/ //Y7zw/ of their generals, \.o the chiet 
command in Germany. This he, not without givingwell grounded 
reasons for declining it, finally undertook, but could only actually 
assume in the following autumn. But even then that hereditary 
malady of the generals of the Thirty Years' War, the gout, 
afflicted him to such a degree that the report of his death had 
already spread in the army. Yet he was finally able, at last, by 
being carried about in a litter, to conduct the war in person. In 
one course of victory, he, in 1642, pushed across the Elbe into 
Lusatia, took Gross-Glogau by storm (24th April), conquered 
Olmutz (5th July) and closed the completely successful cam- 
paign of that year by [his victory near by and] occupying 
Leipsic. 

The depreciating idea which the Austrians then entertained of 
the Swedish army may be gathered from the book of a fugitive 
Jesuit^(Pater Antoni Zeylern). He says the Swedes consist of 
from 5,000 to 6,000 miserable ragamuffins, to whom 12,000 to 
15,000 German rebels have joined themselves. To crown all 
they are commanded by a sick nobleman (Torstenson) (356) 
and the Master-General of the Ordnance limps about on 
crutches. 

As early as the beginning of 1643 the Reichs-Chancellor 
urgently advised Torstenson to profit by his victories for 
^^^^advaueing throut^h Bohemia and Moravia to Austria and for 
transferring the theatre of war to the Danube, as Richelieu and 
Oxenstiern had always wished Gustavtis Adolphus to do.,^^1 

This course Torstenson appeared to follow and it was half a 
victory for the Swedes that Gallas, the noted ruiner of armies, 
stood opposed to them. Yet Torstenson avoided any battles and 
moved through Bohemia and Moravia directly upon Austria. 
Already Gen. Wittenberg raided with his cavalry almost up to 



7. 

Vienna and caught 800 lately recruited Imperial soldiers and 
[Helmold, " The Mad or Wild "] Wrangel in the beginning of July, 
with 3,000 cavalry, stood for a long time threateningly posted be- 
fore the Vienna bridge. On this occasion 100 Wallacliians went 
over to the Swedes with tiie words : " I'/v verba Dei et pro Patria 
suscipimus hccc omnia " inscribed on their colors, and although the 
imperial pardon was oftered them declined to return. 

(357) ]^^^ ihen the Danish war suddenly called Torstenson 
from that theatre of action, to which he ilid not return until the 
beginning of 1645, after overthrowing (iallas in Jutland, but 
now he was firmly determined to attack the emperor in the heart 
of his own lands. 

This year marks the culmination of Torstenson's glory as a 
commander, but for Austria herself it was the most deplorable in 
the course of the whole war, the miseries of which she had now 
to feel in full measure. 

When Torstenson returned from Denmark, the emperor him- 
self had hastened to Prague for the purpose of raising a new 
army. Of the 5,000 men thus obtained, he gave the command to 
Hatzfeld. Field- Marshal (loetz joined him ; and finally the Elector 
of Bavaria had sent to their aid 3,000 men under the bold 
swordsman, Jean de Werth. These forces met Torstenson at 
Jankau, three [German, about 15 English] miles from Tabor in 
Bohemia. " Help. Lord Jesus Christ," was the battle-cry of the 
Swedes; " Sancta Maria " that of the Imperialists. Misunder- 
standings among the three Imperial generals and unfavorable 
ground between hills and ponds of water soon [clubbedj brought 
them into a bad condition. Still, victory wavered. Torstenson's 
wife had already been captured by the Imperialists when these 
latter forgot the pursuit of the enemy in a premature pursuit of 
booty and were soon annihilated by Torstenson's [charge of 
cavalry led by himself, and by hisj superior artillery. 

(358) The victory of the Swedes was perfect and decisive. 
Torstenson had by it opened the way to Vienna ; his talent as a 
commander had filled his own men with new confidence and had 
imbued the enemy with fear. After the dead had been buried Tor- 
stenson caused a thanksgiving festival to be held on the bloody 
field, under the thunder of iiis victorious artillery, and at once 
marched with the Swedish army toward Austria. 

(360) The " Quartier Direktorium " at Vienna, &c., were just 
doing someting to alleviate what sufferings that part of (iermany 
was experiencing from the war, when the terrifying news of the 
battle of Janikau and the advance of the Swedes toward Austria 
reached Vienna and demanded sacrifices far greater and those 
most urgently. 



8 

The Emperor Ferdinand III. was just then in Prague, while 
the Empress Maria Anna, born Infanta ot Spain, was at Linz. 
How uncertain the communication between Prague and Vienna 
had become, ^ven in the beginning of March, is shown by the 
circumstance that two gold chains, sent from Vienna to the em- 
peror at Prague by the ordinary post, ist March, 1645, fell into 
the hands of the enemy. * * * 

Escorted by a number of cavalry under tlie Imperial C(^onel 
Truckmiiller * * the emperor left Prague on the 8th 

of March, about two p. m., leaving all valuables there behind him. 
He took with him only his crown and 100.000 ducats for defray- 
ing the expenses of the army. Travelling throughout the night 
he arrived about nine o'clock on the morning of the 9th at 
Pilsen, and the same day took up the court-quarters at Haid, at 
the toot of the Bohmer-wald. * * * 

(361) After completing these arrangements the emperor pro- 
ceeded on his journey and took his next night quarters at Wit- 
schau in Bdvaria. On the 13th of March, before three P. M., he 
arrived, riding a little black horse, exhausted and dispirited, at 
Ratisbon. * * * It was supposed he would rest at Ratisbon 
for some days, but one courier followed another with discouraging 
news that the Swedes were directing their march on Austria and 
the French advancing on Nuremberg and Neuhausel. On this the 
emperor left Ratisbon the next day (14th) about two p. m., after 
dinner, to continue his journey by water and in the greatest 
haste. * * 

(362) The emperor had left Linz immediately on receiving 
news of the mishap at Jankau, on the 1 3th, and had already reached 
Vienna on the 14th March. 

(363) On arriving at Vienna the emperor at once took 
measures for defence, (Sec, and for ihis it was already high 
time, for the next day Swedish raiders were across the Aus- 
trian frontier. Torstenson, then encamped at Iglau, had given 
permission to the 23-year-old Cornet Rutger von Aschebcrg, 
afterward made a count and raised to the dignity of governor- 
general and field marshal, to pursue the flying Imperialists with 
130 troopers. In the night of the i^fh of March he had crossed 
the Austrian borders, tJie first of the Swedes to do so. This is in the 
vicinity of Retz. In a village close by was quartered the dwin- 
dled remainder of the Imperial regiments Piccolomini, Pompejo 
and Bassompierre, reduced in the last battle to 450 men. These 
worn out and sunk in deep sleep [Paoli's Tavern, 1778. Hacken- 
sack, 1779, Am. Revotlution] were surprised by Aschebergafterhe 
had already set fire to the village in several places. Terribly 
shocked, each of them thought only of his personal safety. 



Still, only a small number succeeded in concealing them- 
selves in the neighboring vineyards. All the others were 
killed or taken prisoners, among them a lieutenant-colonel, 
a major. 5 captains. 5 lieutenants, 9 cornets, 113 rank 
and file — altogether 134 men. actually four more than 
the Swedes numbered. Besides 4 standards, 285 horses, 
all the led horses of (ieneral I'ompejo, and much other 
booty, fell into the hands of the young risk-his-neck, who at once 
returned to the main body. * * 

(264) On the iglh of March, the day after Torstenson had 
broken camp at Iglau, which he took by stratagem and put under 
contri bution, the emperor with his court and high nobles, escorted 
by two hundred musketeers, arrived, by way of Linz * * * 
in Vienna, to the great comfort of the anxious Viennese. It 
was not to reach safety, but to give it, that the emj^eror had 
come. * * Only the ignorance or the party malice of 

later historians would torture this pure action on Ferdinand's 
part into a flight to Vienna, or, still more falsely, into a flight 
from that city. * * 

(365) That Torstenson, witli the forces then at his command, 
even when fortified by the intoxication of a surprising victory, was 
not in a condition to carry through his coup de main on Austria, the 
wise Swede, even now, saw clearly [and what was best to be 
done ?] The bare effect of a surprise, however powerful at the 
moment of the first terror, ensures no lasting success. It was 
above all important for him to secure the assistance of Ragoczy. 
This person. Prince of Transylvania by election of the represen- 
tatives, was bound to acknowledge both the Emperor and the 
Porte as his superior lords, claimant of Hungary, self-seeking and 
vacillating, had, after antecedent preliminaries in direct communi- 
cation with Torstenson, dated Weissenburg, 6th May, and Tobit- 
schau, 20th July, 1643, finally, with the approval of the Porte and 
of the crown of Sweden. i6th September, 1643, concluded an 
alliance with Torstenson against the emperor, by the medi- 
ation of France, and had liberty from the Sultan to make open 
war. Trusting for a favorable result to his negotiations with the 
Porte for the possession of Upper Hungary under a yearly tribute, 
he had soon made hostile advances against the emperor. But be- 
ing beaten by the Imperial Lieutenant-Field-Marshal, John 
Christopher, Count von Puchhaim, at Tirnau, in September, 1644, 
Ragoczy vacillated as to his further ])roceedings and repeatedly 
entered into peace negotiations with the Imperialists. But 
scarcely had the latter left Tirnau than Ragoczy again showed 
himself hostile, and Swedish and French envoys with promises ol 
French gold soon brought him again in sympathy with Torsten- 



10 

son's successful and victorious course. When, therefore, the 
emperor, after the defeat at Jankau, arrived at Vienna, his first 
endeavors were directed to, if possible, resuming the peace nego- 
tiations with Ragoczy and on the other hand to treat with the 
Porte, through Lupul, Prince of Moldavia, that Ragoczy might 
be held back from proceeding further in the alliance with Svveden 
and France against the emperor. That Ragoczy was at least 
again brought to a state of indecision and Count Czaky, on the 
28th March, 1645, could bring from Tirnau to Vienna the pre- 
liminaries of a fresh Peace- NecociatioH. The successful result of 
these precautions was the sole cause which stopped Torstenson's 
victorious career in Austria and that rescued Vienna from the 
Swedes. 

(267) Torstenson on his return from Jutland found only Olmutz 
and Gross Glogau still in possession of the Swedes, and had, after 
his victory at Janikau, marched the main body of his army towards 
Olmutz, which had been for nine months beleaguered by the 
Imperial General, Count von Waldstein. When, however, Lieut. 
Colonel John Walter, whom Torstenson sent forward, -reached 
the town, he discovered that Waldstein had already withdrawn and 
Torstenson found it only necessary to strengthen the Swedish 
garrison. After the retreat of Waldstein the Swedes had thrown 
themselves with hurrahs onto the works of the Imperialists to de- 
stroy them. ^^ They then raided the whole surroundiui^ region 
for supplies and published throughout Moravia that all places 
which would send their quota to Olmutz should be free from any 
plundering and have safe-guards furnished them.^^^^J Since, 
however, only few places answered this summons, the Swedes 
robbed what came to hand, plundered the cloister Wellehrad, 
and the towns Neutitschein, Kremsier, &c., and demolished the 
Maria-chapel on the Holy-mount (called also Marienberg), near 
Olmutz. I^^Olmutz was occupied by the Swedes from June 
i6th, 1642, to July 12th, 1650 — eight years. ^^^J 

(367) Meanwhile General Wittenberg was despatched to /i^lau 
with 200 cavalry and 2,000 infantry, and arrived before its walls 
nth March, p. M. * * The attempt of the citizens at de- 
fence amounted to little*. * * The Swedes put a garri- 
son into the town under Colonel Osterling, fortified it with 
walls and ditches, and leveled the suburbs. The booty was more 
than 2,000 horses, cloth to the amount of several thousand Reichs- 
thalers. Torstenson now removed his headquarters to Iglaji and 
was, much against his will, forced to remain there several days 
by reason of his sickness being aggravated. He demanded from 
Iglau a contribution of 60,000 Reichsthalers All cap- 
tured Imperial generals and colonels were forwarded to Iglau. 



It was not until the iglh of Marcli that Torstenson could 
break ujj from Iglau, in order to advance to V.naim, leaving four 
regiments and 40 field pieces at the former place. Znaim was 
bravely defended by the Imperial Colonel \\'elisch with 200 men, 
but unsuccessfully, against the su]>crior force of the enemy. The 
Swedes took the town by storm at the second attempt. . . . 
From here he marched straight for the Danube. The 23d ot 
March his headquarters were at Schratten-thal, not far from Retz, 
around which town the main body of the army encamped. . . 
Both Horn and Drosendorf surrendered on being summoned, and 
Retz after a brief resistance. 

1. On the 24th March Torstenson had pressed forward to 
,the Danube near Krems — that river the insuperable limit to his 

course of victory. 

2. As before mentioned the Swedes had already occupied the 
heights comnKuuling Krems and Stein. The ne.xt day (25th 
March, the festival of the Annunciation) they descended to the 
Danube and occupied part of the Capucine cloister Und, situated 
between the two towns, where they acted in hostile style. When 
they, however, at once made use of the chapel of " Maria- 
BriJndel," which had an image honored as miracle-working since 
1643, for their horses' stable, Torstenson, it is said, was so en- 
raged that he had the soldiers at once driven out by Colonel 
Copy and an ensign's (Fahndrick's) guard posted there as safe- 
guard. [This seems .somewhat doubtful, since Torstenson had 
no superstitious scruples.] 

The garrison proper of Stein consisted of only 100 men, com- 
manded by a captain. The citizens able to bear arms joined 
them, full of spirit, but the most determined courage could not 
long withstanil the superior numbers of the Swedes, intoxicated 
with victory. Even on the second day, March 26th, Stein was 
taken by storm. The whole garrison, with their captain, and all 
arms-bearing citizens, fell victims to the first rage of the enemy 
as they entered. The town was gutted. It is said that only five 
citizens were left alive. The captain commanding was killed with 
his own weapons, the clergyman was mortally wounded and the 
burgomaster stripped to his shirt. Revolting cruelties were en- 
acted — happily, in such measure, without a second example in all 
the remaining course of the Swedish inroad. The neighboring 
village of Loibcn was plundered and ravagetl, 1000 eimers ot 
wine |)Oured out, three householders shot, several cudgelled to 
death, and a total loss of 6,460 florins occasioned. The town of 
Stein and the Berg-Schloss (hill citadel) within were at once gar- 
risoned by the Swedes. 

(369-70) The bombardment of Krems now went on more 



12 

earnestly. It was commanded by Colonel Ranfft^ a man in bad 
repute with the Swedes, because it was said that, being 
taken at the battle of Leipzig and paroled on his word 
of honor, he did not again present himself. Although he 
had only 300 infantry at his disposal Ranfft was deter- 
mined to make a stubborn (courageous) defense.. The 
terraces and the loose-vineyard-ground of the hills above 
Krems made it impossible to bring heavy artillery up them and 
the enemy attempted to command and bombard the town with 
light pieces. For three days and four nights it shook under the 
hostile artillery. Things seemed to have come to the last extrem- 
ity. Men, women and children fell at the feet of Colonel Ranftt, 
beseeching him to surrender, but he refused. Finally Krems was 
surrendered andtaking possession of it had commenced, when a 
drunken peasant fired a shot (cannon ? ) which killed the Swedish 
Lieut.-Col. Essen and several privates, and mortally wounried 
Troop-Sergeant-]Major of cavalry Suanto Bielck, the last much 
regretted by Torstenson. Upon this supposed breach of faith 
the enraged Swedes recommenced firing, but Col. Ranfft at last 
exculpated himself and appeased the enemy. 

(371) During the siege of Krems Torstenson had his head- 
quarters in Weilderhof, near Nieder-Rohrendorf, scarcely an 
hour's (eine Stunde) [2:^^ English miles] travel from Krems. 

(572) After the Swedes had actuallv taken possession of Krems 
they showed, to the joyful surprise of the anxious citizens, many 
honorable traits. The clergy, it is true, were obliged to bind them- 
selves in writing that they would have no interchange of let- 
ters with the Imperialists, and that they would point out all 
(church ? ) property which had been brought to Krems from other 
T^o'int?, {a/le da/ii/i gejliic/iteie/i Giiter). In exchange a sufficient 
safeguard was at once furnished, at their urgent request, to the 
Jesuit college (then the Piarist Cloister on the hill). Several Swedish 
soldiers who were guilty of plundering and ill-treatment suffered 
the punishment of running the gauntlet. I^^Such traits in a vic- 
torious enemy an impartial historian should not pass un- 
mentioned.^^^j 

That the Swedes often, and, as it were, designedly, were 
forced into severer measures, is shown, among other proofs, by 
the following instance. Not far from where the Damp empties in- 
to the Danube, about five miles from Krems, already in V.U.M.B., 
is the castle of Grafen-egg. It then belonged to the Imperial 
privy councillor and grand court steward, John Baptist, Count 
Werda von W'erdenberg. One of his daughters, Anna Camilla, 
was married to the noted soldier, subsequently Imperial Field- 
Marshal, Freiherr von Enkevoirt. Already during the negotia- 



13 

tions for the surrender of Krems Torstenson had despatched a 
Quartermaster-General, Conrad, to the castle. Enkevoirt, who was 
a prisoner of vvar, but, as were all other prisoners of rank, was 
treated with all consideration by Torstenson, had begged the lat- 
ter to spare this castle of his father-in-law and to jjlace there a 
safeguard. This Torstenson assured him of, and also promised 
that place should not be occupied by the Swedes. When Quar- 
termaster (General) Conrad with the safety-guard arrived at the 
castle, the second-captain (Kapitain-I,ieutenant) in charge, com- 
manding 27 infantry and a number of armed peasants, refused to 
admit them. When seriously asked if he would surrender, he 
jeered the enemy from the castle walls, asking if the Swedes took 
him for a coward or a sneak that they thought he would so easily 
• surrender. Thereupon the Swedes came up close to the castle 
ditch and renewed their demand for surrender, sending a drum- 
mer into the castle to negotiate. He was received with boastful 
scorn. " The Swedes must indeed be very hungry," cried the 
captain to him, " if they think so easily to win such a castle. 
One may easily take partridges, but not such a castle." At the 
same time he sent two partridges with their wings chopped off, a 
jug of wine and a glass with the bottom out into the Swedish 
encampment. So scornfully treated the Swedes resorted to 
harsher measures, and after the cai)ture of Krems they appeared 
with two i2-pdrs. (halbe Karthaunen) before the castle. Once 
more they gave an amicable summons ; then again the comman- 
dant, with impudent mockery, called out to the Swedes, " You 
must be extraordinarily hungry if you have already devoured the 
partridges. Wait a little till the young hares come. I will send 
you some of them." Then the patience of the besiegers gave 
way and they commenced battering (cannonading) the castle 
door. However, when the commandant was hit by a musket 
(Rohr) ball in the shoulder and there was no surgeon to bind the 
wound, miserable cowardice took the place of impudent bragging, 
and he humbly offered to come to terms. This was not, however, 
agreed to. He was, on the contrary, advised to take to prayer 
and ])repare for death. .After a short respite two sergeants per- 
formed the duty, and two shots made the loose mouth forever 
dumb. The next day the liody was hung up. for a warning, at 
the castle gate. The Swedes stormed fiercely into the castle, and 
in the first rush hewed down the cook and his assistants. 'I'he 
remainder of the garrison and inhabitants of the castle were 
made |)risoners. After this Torstenson took up his (juarters in 
Grafenworlh, close by, as did also the Landgrave of Hesse at SpUz. 
(373) ^^''^ ^^y Torstenson's plan the princijtal line of his oper- 
ations did not lie in that ilirection, but as soon as he had secured 



14 

his rear he at once marched straight upon Vienna. He aimed 
especially at the decisive advantage of securing the bank of the 
Danube. From Weissen-Kirchen, Spitz and Wosendorf, which 
places the Swedes occupied on the 25th of March, he conquered 
the whole Wachau at one blow. 

The castle of Durnstein, on the other hand, was taken by 
storm on the 26th of March and the little town set on fire. 

Thus in possession of the left bank of the Danube, from Krems 
to Persenbe(u)rg, the Swedes attempted the crossing ofthe river at 
various points, but they were in every case driven back by the 
Imperial troops on the south side — particularly by the Puch- 
heimer troops at Mautern, and further up towards Linz by those 
of Gallas. For the purpose of crossing, the Swedes had, in con- 
nection with a block-house on a neighboring flat, worked hard on 
restoring the injured bridge between Stein and Mautern, indeed 
a report was already spread in Vienna, by a young Count von 
Zell, that the Swedes had forced the surrender of the, from its 
mountain position, fortress-like, cloister of Gobbweiz, and had 
appeared before Melk (Molk). But this turned out mere report. 
The S^vedish army Jias never trod this hank of the Danube as con- 
queror. [The author, of course, means only near Vienna.^ 

The Imperialists had, happily, withdrawn all large vessels in 
the vicinity of Krems to the south bank, and the smaller craft at 
the disposal of the Swedes were not adapted to the transporta- 
tion of troops. Guarding the river seems to have been per- 
formed by the Imperialists, at times, with reckless stringency ; for 
when Count Kutz, with some of the Imperial troops collected 
after the battle of Jankau, wished to cross to the south bank at 
Aggstein^ the passage was denied him by the officer there com- 
manding, doubtless through a ;///j'//;/rt'<fn<-/'^//(^////^'' such as even /;/ 
those times took place. Consequently the count with his men 
and much baggage fell into the hands of the Swedes, who made 
consiaerable booty and took prisoner those who were not 
slain. 

(377) However, the abandoned [undefended] Abbey (Stift) of 
Zwettl, plundered by the Swedes only once, was robbed by the 
Imperial partisans (people) of Konigswiesen, Bohmisch-Gratzen, 
Waidhofen and Rappottenstern six times, and each time a con- 
tribution exacted. 

While these things were occurring in the upper part of the 
so-called Waldviertels, Torstenson, with the main body of the 
army, was continually advancing nearer the heart of Austria. On 
the morning of the 5th of April he broke camp at Grafenzvorth, 
where we last left him, and on the same day fixed his headquarters 
at Stockerau. After that, the Swedes, previous to leaving, had 



16 

plundered the positions they held during the siege of Krcms, on 
the march the market town o^ Hadersdorf ox\ the Damp, and had 
set fire to Langenlois. From this latter town almost everyone 
had fled. 

(378) After that Ober-Sduserdorf, near the Russbach, had also 
been laid in ashes. The town of Konifubun^ and the castle Dientz- 
enstein, near to it, were attacked. Korneubtirgh, Kreuizeti stein 
and Laa had been already before this provided with Imperial 
garrisons, which in the two last places were commanded bv Col. 
Lucas. A i)rolonged resistance, or at least the extorting of fav- 
orable conditions, was expected, but on the appearance of the 
Swedes before Korneuburg, Lucas without the slightest resis- 
tance surrendered the castle of Kreutzenstein and also Korneu- 
burg, 8th April. 

When the Swedes took possession of Korneuburg they 
found a large store of provisions, among which were 20,000 eimer 
of wine, 5,000 niuth of breadstuff's, (juantities of oats and a store 
of salt worth 60,000 florins, and 22 field-pieces. In addition a 
contribution of 12,000 rix-thalers was demanded. 

And now Torsteuson moved directly on l^ienna itself. Tliis, 
the emperor's residence, was connected with the further (north) 
bank of the Danube, over the various intervening islands, in a dif- 
ferent direction than now-a-days. I^The road from Vienna then 
took the direction of the jjresent Augarten-street in the Schotkn-mi 
(now Brigitten-au). It led past the site of the later built Krigitten- 
Kapelle and the then-existing Custom House, to a bridge, at the 
further end of which was the Tabor-au. From this, then, the so- 
called Z(;//i.- y)//V4><? led into the JVcdfs-aii. Through this a small 
channel or arm cut its way, over which a shorter bridge was 
thrown. Finally, on the further bank from the Wolfs-au across 
(beyond) the fourth bridge, a star fort, the so-called Wolfs-schanze, 
formed a strong britlge head. ,^3 

Into this fort a garrison of the Imperial Regiment Fehrenberg 
had been already thrown on the first news ot the advance of the 
Swedes to the Danube (about the 26th of March). They were 
not obliged to remain long inactive, for they soon had to drive 
back straggling Swedish raiders (bummers — Streif-zijgler), then 
also larger bodies of the enemy and again lawless bands of Im- 
perial cavalry routed at Jankau. These were every time driven 
off with the loss of a few men, yet these skirmishes indicated the 
necessity of enlarging the fort and throwing in a stronger garri- 
son. At last, on the 9th of April, the Swedish main body appeared 
before the fort an<l apparently proposed, by taking it, to open a 
direct way into the imperial city. Soon the enemy began a 
heavy cannonading and began to open their approaches. On the 



16 

other hand the fire was answered with equal fury by the Imperial- 
ists until the coming down of night silenced both sides. 

(380) Despairing of the success of a furtherresi-tance the Im- 
periaHsts during the night entirely evacuated the fort, burned the 
smaller buildings within and near it and also burned the bridge 
behind them. The flames crackled (gushed) brightly upwards 
and shone with glowing red through the darkness of the night; 
the burning beams fell crackling and hissing into the stream be- 
low. With break of day the Swedes marched into the abandoned 
fort and immediately threw up strong breastworks facing the 
bridge. The Imperialists threw up counter fortifications on their 
bank. fOn the island opposite,] 

I^^So then Torstensoii had pressed forward victorious into 
the heart of the Austrian state and stood threatening before the 
walls of the palace city of the German emperors. "=^^ The 
hour of decision had come on. If Ragoczy united with Torsien- 
son for one grand stroke, and by a quick junction reinforces the 
Swedish line of battle in this decisive moment, the Northern leader 
marches a conqueror thi-ough the streets of Vieii?ia, and what human 
penetration could • foresee the whole line of consequences of this 
event. But Ragoczy's selfish policy once more, at the most im- 
portant instant, hesitated, uncertain from which side the surest 
advantage would be for himself, and this contemptible condition 
was the instrument by which Providence stemmed the sweeping 
course of events and this, and as so often for the rescue of Austria, 
brought in causes on which a miserable, halting faint-heartedness 
least of all reckoned. That the emperor with a sure glance 
recognized the point on which the decisive event turned, that he 
at once comprehended which was the Achilles heel of his oppo- 
nent ; this alone, as already said, saved Vienna — Austria. ^^^, 

(381) If the alarm in the capital increased every hour during the 
conquering approach of Torstenson, consternation reached its 
highest pitch now that the enemy stood close in front of the 
walls of Vienna and the worst might be feared at any instant. 

(382-83) As regarded the measures of detail to betaken, it was 
first of all necessary to bring under control the confused flying from, 
and pressing into the city. As on the one hand all males from 16 to 
60 years of age were forbidden to leave, so, on the other hand, 
those were sent out who were not able to carry arms. The court 
in this set the example. While Torstenson was besieging Krems, 
on the 28th of March the widowed empress Eleonore, Ferdinand 
II. 's relict, along with the young archdukes (the subsequent King 
of the Romans, Ferdinand IV., then 11 years old, and ],eopold, 
afterwards as German emperor Leopold I., then 4 years old ; 
also the princess Maria Anna Josephine, afterwards married to 



17 

Philip IV. of Spain, then 9 years old, left Vienna as evening came 
on, in order to travel to Gratz. More than a thousand wagons 
with fugitives carrying their valuables joined the train. // is said 
that several of the coiirt wa^^ons ivere on this Journey pliiiuierai by 
the Imperial soldiery [as were those of Napoleon 111. in 1870 by 
his own soldiers, and as the rebel cavalry robbed their own 
people in i863-'5]. Many persons of high standing, and priests, 
fled, part of them to Venice, part of them to Saltzburg. Since 
many entirely abandoned the Austrian states the emperor saw 
himself finally compelled to forbid going beyond the boundaries 
under severe punishment. What confusion prevailed in the 
midst of planless rushing about, and in what an uncomfortable 
situation the fugitives put themselves and others, may be gath- 
ered from the circumstance that some towns, e. g. Wr-Neustadt 
and Gratz, were soon over-peopled and therefore, on account of 
the exorbitant price of provisions thus occasioned, shut their gates 
closely against any further arrivals. 

(383) The strong-believing emperor, as a stimulating examj)le, 
ordered, with preliminary concurrence of the Archbishop of 
Vienna, Frederick Philip, Count of Breuner, a general supplica- 
tory procession. The emperor himself, confessedly an almost 
fanatical promoter of the honoring (Verehrung) of the most 
holy Virgin and of the belief in her immaculate conception, had 
at once, on the advance of the Swedes, made a vow to erect in a 
public place in Vienna a statue in honor of the holy mother of 
God. He fulfilled this vow three^years after by the erection of 
one, in what is called "the Hof," which LeopoUl I., in 1667, re- 
placed by that now existing. At the sounds of the great bell of 
the Schottenkirche, on the 2gth of March, the day of the sur- 
render of Krems, at 7 a. m., the emperor and empress were in 
this building, which could not hold the assembled multitude. 
After prayers the image of the Virgin, re|)Uted as miracle-working, 
was brought out of the ihapel by the Peneilictmes ami carried 
on their shoulders with pomp to the cathedral of St. Stejjhen. 

. . . In zealous prayer the anxious hearts jwured them- 
selves out. . . . In the evening the litany was repeated. 
The holy image remained set out for the like honor (homage) for 
eight days. On the morning of the ninth day it was carried 
back to the Schotten cloister with the same homage. 

(385) The citizen militia was mustered and the students, called 
out by an im])erial decree, aligned themselves spiritedly with the 
defenders of the Fatherland. Each faculty (of the university) was 
put under its separate cajjtain. In short about 5,000 armed men 
exiiibited their skill in handling their weapons before the em- 
peror. The artillery was at once transported to the walls avmX the 



18 

citizens, students and artizans at once occupied the posts of duty 
assigned to them in the city. With great haste impromptu forti- 
fications were thrown up on the Danube side of the city, the dam- 
aged part of the regular fortifications were repaired, especially in 
the neighborhood of the Kaiserburg and the Burggarten; next a new 
work was erected at the Neuthor and at the Rothenthurm, which 
was considered so important that it passed for an advanced woik 
of the whole country. For the purpose of carrying through 
these works many houses belonging to the civil hospital had to 
be demolished, for which the institution received compensation 
on the upper and lower meadow. For digging the ditches not 
only was the robust portion of the female population called on, 
but, according to the standing orders for defense, those subject to 
socage duty within a circle of six miles from Vienna were sum- 
moned for a month's service. 

As the Swedes held in occupation the whole of the further 
side of the Danube, had erected several blockhouses, and closely 
watched the whole length of the stream, the commerce by the 
river and the supply of provisions by this means were entirely 
cut off. Especially by reason of the great multitude which came 
into the city there was soon a sensible rise in the price of all the 
necessities of life. An order, issued through the public crier 
(the, at that time, most speedy way of announcing meas- 
ures of police), had indeed been previously issued, which directed 
that every one, of high or low rank, should lay up food for one 
year and that all fugitives from outside, all regular beggars (Bett- 
gewand) and old loafers should be put out of the city. Never- 
theless a needy crowd remained who had nothing beyond their 
daily bread. 

(386) Decree that every house, without exception, should 
furnish within fourteen days one able-bodied man fully armed 
with musket and pike, under penalty of confiscation of the house. 

The environs were ordered to furnish one able-bodied man, 
with musket, &c., and side-arms, for every 18 to 20 houses. This 
within 14 days, and especially for the security of the river 
bank. 

As a further provision for strengthening the garrison, all the 
district and Imperial foresters, with their sharpshooters, jagers and 
boys, were distributed in the Prater-au, partly for making strong 
abattis, partly to oppose by their skill in shooting the attempts to 
cross in small detachments, which were at various times made by 
the Swedes. These were very useful. After the Swedes had 
already occupied an island, called the " Kothlocke," with four 
pieces of artillery, they were so sharply picked oft" that they were 
forced to a hasty flight, leaving their cannon behind them. 



19 

[This is another valuable proof of the necessity of providing 
practised marksmen, as was especially shown at the Siege of 
Sebastopol, the Revolution in Geneva, and during the Slave- 
holders' Rebellion, in fact in all modern wars.] 

(387) Things looked much worse with the regular Imperial 
regiments, particularly after the disaster of Jankau had torn great 
gaps in them and scattered the fugitive troops far and wide. 
Very few regiments had their ordinary complement. No cavalry 
regiment had more than 60 men. From Prague 400 men 
marched off who called themselves 20 regiments, and carried one 
hundred and twenty (company ?) colors. 

Difficulties in reassembling the scattered troops after the 
battle of Jankau. Gallas was stationed at Prague and afterwards 
at Budweis for this purpose. One corps organized, gained great 
fame in the defence of Brunn under de Souches orders ; 600 
men from Budweis had reached the Danube and crossed it 
at Mauthausen, in order to occupy (das Viertel ober-Wienerwald). 
Suddenly tliey received unex|)ecte(l counter-orders sending tiiem 
back into liohemia. 

(388) By this concentration of the fugitive troops and by the 
enlistments (Werbungen) in progress it was hoped that in a short 
time the Imperial army in the Hereditary Lands would, exclusive 
of those Gallas was raising, be brought to a strength of 35,000 
men. foot and horse. These and the troops expected from Itjly 
were then to be assembled on the plains about Tuln, in order to 
resist the Swedes with a respectable force. About the 12th of 
April Puchheim reached Vienna with three regiments of foot and 
five of horse ; then came 2,000 Hungarians, 13 field-pieces and 
several of the banners captured from Ragoczy. The troops were 
sent to Mautern for an effectual defence against the Swedes, who 
were attemptiag to throw a bridge across, near Diirnstein, to etTect 
the passage in mass. 'I'hese troops of Puchheim, as well as 
some 1,000 which had been brought by Gallas and had crossed 
at Enns, were now put in quarters along the southern bank, for 
protecting the river. In addition, a detachment from the troo])s 
of Gallas were sent over the river near Melk, tor the purpose of 
reconnoitering, after Torstcnson had commenced, beginning with 
Spitz, to assign contributions on all lordships and market-towns. 
The Imperial forces received a further reinforcement by 2,000 
infantry and 18 pieces of artillery, sent by the Elector of Sax- 
ony. 

(394) The general-feld-marshall (field-marshal-general) occu- 
pied in the field the position of the general-lieutenant (lieutenant- 
general, /. e., substitute for the P^mperor). commander-in-chict". 
and this either independently or as a subordinate to such 



20 

lieutenant-general ; but things were in their worst con- 
dition when several field-marshals, without a common 
superior, commanded together. It is universally ac- 
knowledged that the confusion which was followed by the 
loss of the battle of Janikau, is principally to be ascribed to the 
circumstance that three-field-marshals. Hatzfeld, Gotz and John 
de Werth, were commanding at the same time, and by their sep- 
arate individual orders crossed, hindered and confused each 
other. 

Under the Field-Marshal General stood the " Feldzeug- 
meister," Grand Master of Ordnance as General of Iii/a?Ury,z.\-id 
the Wachtmeister-Geiieral [Quartermaster-General ?] [Major-Gen- 
eralj as General of Cavalry. Of such, we have at the time of which 
we speak, the Count of Pompejo and Ernst von Traun, John 
Francis Barwiz, Freiherr von Fernemont, also court councillor 
and Colonel of an infantry regiment, the Spaniard Don Felix, 
Trauditsch, Zaradetzkv, and so on. Immediately subordinate 
to the two general officers (general of infantry and general of 
cavalry) were the general-field-marshal-lieutenant. As such we 
find in the Imperial army opposed to the Swedes, Count Bruay 
Hannibal, Marquis of Gonzaga, Hans William Freiherr Vogt 
VON HuNOLDSTEiN, at the same time commandant-general of 
"Austria below Enns," Mercy, Adrian Freiherr (at a later period) 
Count von Enckevoirt, Count Raymond von Monlecuculi, and 
John Christopher Count von Piichhetm, at the same time vice- 
president of the court council. 

(395) ^° ^he general staff belonged also the field-sergeant- 
colonel (Obrist-Feld-Wachmeister and the Obrist-Kriegs-Com- 
missar) the military commissary colonel, which last was the head 
of all business for furnishing the troops with provisions, the horses 
with forage and for moving the trains. The auditor-general was the 
head of the military law officers and also charged with the ran- 
soming or exchange of prisoners. Every general officer had an 
adjutant-general, i. e. an officer, who, as the mouth-piece of the 
general, had to communicate or carry out his orders and at the 
same time to keep an exact daily record of them. 

The common soldiers (of the cavalry) were called gemeine 
Knechte (gregarii). Arquebusiers and dragoons, i. e. light mounted 
soldiers who, when called on, had to dismount and serve on foot, 
and were armed with a musket (arquebus). The two terms, arque- 
busiers and dragoons, are identical in meaning we find in 1645, 
<f.^. the dragoons [or arquebusiers] of Counts Gallas and Serav. 

(396) It should also be noticed that the Imperial regiments of 
that time were not yet uniformed, a custom first introduced in 
France under Louis XIII. (t 1648) and which Prussia followed 



♦21 

in 1703, Austria not until 1737. Before that time it wasthe busi- 
ness of each colonel to give the soldiers of his regiment some 
badge of distinction by which they might be recognized. 

(398) The next endeavors of the emjjeror were directed to se- 
cureing the release of the Imperial generals, colonels and other offi- 
cers, held jjrisoners by the Swedes. As has been mentioned, 
Torstenson had caused these officers, including Generals Hatzfeld, 
Kara-detzky, ike, together with 3,000 common soldiers, to be 
brought to Iglau. But beside those taken at Jankau there 
were two other generals, who had been previouslv ca|)tured 
and were not yet liberated. These were (General-Wacht- 
meister) General of Cavalry Adrian, Freiherr von Encke- 
voiRT, and (Master of Ordnance General) General of 
Infantry, John Francis, Freiherr von Fernemont. En- 
CKEVOIRT had once been released at the end of March, 
1 64 1, on the application of Piccolomini, in exchange for 
the Marquis de Gesures and Mr. d'Aiquebelle, from a prior cap- 
tivity, he having been taken with John de Werth on the 3d of 
March, 1638, at Rheinfelden ; but he had experienced the same 
fate on the 3d December, 1644, being taken by Torstenson and 
Geiss between Wittenberg and Jiiterbok. . . . Fernemont, (398) 
on the otlier hand, had remained in the hands of the Swedes since 
the battle at Leipsic (2d Nov., 1642), and notwithstanding his 
repeated applications to the Lower Austria house of delegates 
that they should at least advance the ransom money, had not yet 
been redeemed. . . . The demands of the enemy were not 
inconsiderable — for each colonel, 50,000 Reichsthalers. Mistrust 
on the part of the Swedes, which arose from a like transaction in 
1 64 1, was the reason that the affair was not at once concluded. 
In regard to some of the higher officers, however, the ransom was 
soon given and accepted, especially for Hatzfeld and Zaradetzky. 
It was forwarded to Iglau, and Colonel Ranft't joined his com- 
mand at Vienna on the 3d of May. Finally, by the mediation of 
Imperial Cieneral-Auditor Gross with ToRsrENsoN.it was agreed 
that all ca])tured colonels and other officers should be freed for 
120,000 Reichsthalers. After the money was collected Lieut. 
Field-Marshal Count Puchheim was charged with delivering it 
and with the receiving of the prisoners. Clearly that compara- 
tively small ransom was arranged by the reciprocal discharge of 
Swedi.sh officers in the hands of the Imperialists. Still this 
arrangement seems to have met with obstacles in its details, for 
Enkevoirt was released on parole from Leipzig, to go to his estates 
in Bohemia and Moravia. He received, however, all military 
honors from the enemy, for he had a " fine " escort and two can- 
non were fired (losgebrannt) in his honor. |^^ There was, how- 



22 

ever, only one opinion as to the honorable way in which 
Torstenson's chivalrous sentiments had always been shown in the 
treatment of the higher prisoners..,^^ 

Now that the enemy had penetrated into Austria the em- 
peror's great object must be to give .his army a really competent 
head and one commanding general-confidence ; in short, to ap- 
point as chief a man, who, in commanding respect and in posses- 
sion of wisdom and force of character was fully equal [if such 
were possible] to his great adversary Torstenson. The loss of 
Jankau had taught what were the consequences when unity of 
command was wanting. Gotz had fallen in that battle. Hatz- 
feld on account of the loss of the battle, as well as by reason ot 
the igiK)ble pains he had taken to put the whole blame of this 
[loss] on the dead (iotz, was not exactly in the bloom of the trust 
reposed in him. Gallas had lost one battle after another, was de- 
cried as the " destroyer of armies," and was now, in his misfor- 
tunes, in the highest degree given to drunkenness. 

On the contrary (to these) stood the Archduke Leopold Wil- 
Uam, now the only brother of the emperor, equally respected as 
a prince of the church and as a general, in the 31st year of his 
age, in the bloom of his strength and fame ; on account of his 
uncommon virtues called an " angel " by his father, the emperor 
Ferdinand II. ; a realized ideal of high refinement in the devout- 
ness and purity of his life, he was, it must be confessed, after the 
manner of his time, particularly favorable to the Jesuits, and, of 
course, highly esteemed by them. The things, however, which 
that order may have u.sed only as a means to earthly ends, were 
in the clear fountains of his devotion entirely separated from 
such objects, &c., &c. [I do not see that he (Feil) shows him 
(Leopold) to have been " Ein Mann, dessen Ansehen, Klugheit 
und Kraft einem grossen Gegner wie Torstetison gegeniiber 
vollkommen gewachsen war."] 

(402) About the 24th April the Archduke Leopold, having been 
made commander-in-chief and having made the journey from 
Linz by land, with six post horses, arrived in Vienna. It is re- 
volting to notice that the prince on his journey was besieged 
[actually attacked] in the vicinity of St. Polten by the assembled 
Imperial soldiery with impudent demands for money [pay and 
arrears of pay], and had to suffer many unpleasant things. In 
such a desperate condition of affairs, such bad conduct had 
to be most severely punished for the sake of the example. Ot 
the five ringleaders arrested, one lieutenant was beheaded, one 
captain of cavalry hung and two privates were simply shot. 

(403) That the powers plenipotentiary confided to him (Leo- 
pold) actually gave him the position of generalissimo is 



23 

convincingly shown by the following details. All his arrange- 
ments and orders were to be regarded as if the emperor were 
personally in the field, and unconditional obedience was to be 
paid him. The atlministration of military justice, even to life 
and limb, as concerned the whole Imperial army, from the high- 
est general officer to the lowest soldier, was intrusted to him. 
He had the power, without consulting the emperor, to do what- 
ever he considered necessary and appropriate for the bringing 
in of good order and military discipline, Xrc. 

(404) Among the many evidences of the necessity of 
puttin,g at the head of the Imperial forces a universally 
honored and a tried man, stood, most prominent of 
all, the comjjlete ruin of all military discipUne. (405) A 
memorial from the Lower Austria delegates to the Diet 
of May, 1645, gives a lamentable picture ot the times. 
It is related how the Imperial soldiery, as soon as they 
had crossed to the country south of the Danube, acted 
worse than the enemy ; that, laying aside all discipline and pay- 
ing no attention to the appropriate Imperial orders as to subsis- 
tence, they had i)lundered whole villages and market-places, 
entered castles, robbed churches and driven off catUe. In their 
quarters, although ])rovisions in kind were furnished them in 
abundance, tiiey, under all sorts of pretexts, extorted coin, and 
when it was refused, threatened to fire the places, so that in a 
range of twelve miles along the Danube, from Tulbing to Am- 
stetten, all the inhabitants had abandoned their houses aud fields 
and hid themselves in the woods. These in spite of all admoni- 
tions and threats from their clerical and secular supervisors, could 
not be induced to return, and even threatened the lives of the 
officials sent out to them. Immediately upon a place being 
abandoned by its inhabitants, not only did the wretches (soldiers) 
look upon themselves as mastersof everything left behind — wine, 
grain, hay, oats and straw — to do with it as they pleased, but were 
abandoned enough maliciously to destroy what they could not 
consume or take away with them. It was just as bad for those 
peasants who did not abandon their dwellings; they were not 
only obliged to give up their own property, but compelled by 
threats of burning their houses and by all kinds of bodilv tortures 
to betray the possessions of others. Every troop that followed 
another surpassed the preceding one in impudent lawlessness, 
without the most threatening imperial orders having 
the slightest effect upon them. Out of simple indifference (un- 
vorsichtigkeit) the market town of Blindenniarkt, not far from 
Amstetten, was fired. C^The impudence of these lawless fel- 
lows went so far as, on one occasion 00 the empress dowager's 



24 

journey from Vienna to Gratz, to actually plunder wagons of the 
Imperial court, and to attack the person of the Archduke Leo- 
pold William, as has already been mentioned.,^]) 

(414) Torstenson took his headquarters at Stammersdor.f. For 
four days the concentrated Swedish army remained in this threaten- 
ing position. The terror in Vienna grew with every hour, as they 
beheld three handsome villages, fired by the enemy, send their 
bright flames upward and the Swedish artillery began to pour a 
heavy cannonade upon the city, Vienna. But just as anxiety had 
reached its highest pitch and every moment the worst seemed im- 
pending — it was the 14th April — the enemy suddenly, contrary to 
all expectations — the believing disposition (glaubige Sinn) of the 
time saw in it a visible token of the Virgin's intercession — broke up 
from his strong position and marched (took up his line of march) 
northward. Only Lieut. -Col. Sebastian Kallow, of the Copy 
regiment, who was still suffering from wounds received at Jan- 
kow, remained with 300 men in the fortifications, while Torsten- 
son moved northward with the main body and the same day took 
his headquarters at Mistelbach for the purpose of, in some meas- 
ure, resting out himself and his army, which needed quiet after 
such severe exertions. The fact was (namlich) that Ragoczy had 
delayed bringing the promised reinforcement and Torstenson did 
not feel himself sufiiciently strong with his own army alone to risk 
a decisive battle. In addition to this lyhis rear was not secured 
since the strong places on the Moravian boundaries and several 
fortified castles in the Lower Manhartsberg circle were still in 
the hands of the Imperialists. His next purpose was, by taking 
them, to secure his rear and then to await the reinforcements of 
Ragoczy. ^^^1 In this way, however, he lost the irrecoverable 
advantage of a surprise, and although he victoriously took one 
strong place after the other, yet the Imperial forces gradually 
recovered self-confidence, while he, by the fruitless siege of Brunn, 
weakened the marrow of his army and by splitting up his forces, 
in the result, more and more dried up the stream of his hereto- 
fore victorious course. 

(415) While the Swedes were in position at the bridge over the 
Danube at Vienna, the Hungarian General-Field-Marshal Ladis- 
laus Barakozi, summoned by an order of the emperor and of the 
viceroy (Reichs Palatin) of Hungary, had posted himself with 
2,000 Hungarian and Polish cavalry on the banks of the March. 
Here, by means of detached raiding parties, he captured a num- 
ber of Swedes who were out seeking forage, whom he, in good 
Magyar fashion, at once decapitated, and then carried away the 
heads in sacks. I^^Enraged at this piece of cruelty Torstenson 
sent out Colonel Jordan with some companies against the bar- 



OK 



barians. These were soon overtaken at Angern, driven across 
the March, the bridges over the river at their j)Osition taken and 
a number of the monsters killed, among them the Polish Colonel 
Sebinsky. E^* Thoroughly frightened the barbarous hordes with- 
drew and did not again appear. Torstcnsun immediately caused 
the pass al Angern to be (jccupied, to sec ure himself, on his own 
side, from such incursions. While he remained with the main 
body at' Mistelbach he sent out separate jjarties to master the 
strong places in the Lower Manhartsberger Viertel and in Mora- 
via. Major General Mortaigne » » * took the 
frontier town of Laa and the market town of Falken.stein by a 
coup lie main and ca|)tured many cannon. 

(416) At last, on the 27th April, Torstenson broke up from Mis- 
telbach and took his headcjuarters at Hohenau. Here he had 
the army drawn up in battle array and celebrated a thanks- 
giving for the victory won at Jankau and for his so far successful 
course, upon which the troops were put into regular quarters. 

'i'orstenson had also, in the circle above Manhartsberge (im 
Viertel ober dem Manhartsberge), with some slight exceptions, (f.^^ 
Feldsberg. captured the most important places and had made 
himself master of Lower Austria beyond the Danube. He now 
undertook the siege of the town of Briinn with the castle (am 
Spielberg). On the 3d of May the advance guard appeared be- 
fore the walls of the town. The heroic defence of this town and 
of its castle, under the courageous and inflexible de Souches, by 
which the Swede lost irrecoverable time and his best forces fruit- 
lessly, and against which his army was wasted in vain attempts to 
storm the place and then melted away, infected by the pest 
caught from Ragoczy's rabble, and sinking under dysentery, was 
the crisis of Torstenson's up to that time unchecked career of 
successful war. 

Although Torstenson had already subdued all Lower Austria 
north of the Danube, and, in rear of this, the greater part of 
Moravia, he thoroughly realized how difficult it would be to 
maintain possession of this without having given a decisive blow 
in regard to the capital. As this was only possible in conjunction 
with Ragoczy, whose ambiguous behavior allowed of no certain 
reliance, the clearsighted Swede was careful at least to secure 
himself as tar as possible in regard to the declared enemy of his 
untrustworthy ally, Ragoczy, and at once, by diplomatic means, 
to bring the Hungarian party, which was under the lead of the 
viceroy (Reichs-Palatine) Count Nicholas Esterhazy, and still de- 
voted to the emperor, to at least a one-sided neutrality. (417) In 
his letter to the Palatine, of the 25th April, 1645, from his head- 
quarters at Mistelbach, he, before all else, defends himself from the 



26 

supposition that he wished to destroy the Christian name and faith. 
At the same time he endeavors to put what had already happened 
in a softened Hght, that is to say, if he had hostilely occupied any 
part of the kingdom of Hungary as being join"ed with the Im- 
perial lands, as, according to the laws of war, had been the case 
with other renowned kingdoms and mighty principalities, it was 
only the course of the war which had compelled him to do so, and 
the necessity for following up the Imperial hostile forces who 
had fallen back across the frontiers of that kingdom. There was 
no one who more heartily than himself and his Queen wished 
that Christendom might soon obtain a permanent peace, but if 
not, he must wish that the opposite should be maintained in a 
Christian fashion, at least with so much of it as was practised to- 
ward the Jews and the like, wJiom they tolerated. He would 
not inquire whether Ragoczy could have entered into alliance 
with Sweden and France, and, in addition, even with the Turks, 
without the previous knowledge of the Hungarian and Transyl- 
vanian; nor would he inquire whether the adherence of the diets 
to the Palatine was loosening. But he had been assured that 
Ragoczy had taken up arms for the maintenance of the freedom 
of the Hungarian diet and could not be prevented from con- 
cluding the conventions made, for important reason, with other 
Christian powers ; there was rather every reason, existing to give 
increasing praise to his conduct, es])ecial]y since he also was in 
arms only for mediating the peace finally desired. He left un- 
touched the Palatine's remark regarding the composition of the 
Hungarian diet, and that the Swedes ought not to form any con- 
nections with them, and passed over the threatening resolution of 
opposing himself to the Swedish arms with the last drop of his 
(the Palatine's) blood. No one, however, could find fault with 
himself (Torstenson) if, after the tyrant-like acts of which Bara- 
kozi had lately been guilty towards the Swedes, he should aim at 
making himself safe in the direction of the Hungarian frontier. 
And this without reference to the not yet forgotten impression 
made by the effective aid which, since the times of Gustavus 
Adolphus, the Hungarians, with every demonstration of hostility, 
had given to the Imperial arms; not only on the frontiers of Hun- 
gary, but also in the German empire, in Bohemia, Moravia, 
Silesia. Saxony, indeed up to the very sea-coast. He, on the con- 
trary, felt confidence that the numberof peace-loving patriots was 
large who would not associate themselves with the Palatine, but 
rather, when they once understood his (Torstenson's) sentiments, 
would seek shelter and protection from him ; in which case 
they and all belonging to them should remain in perfect security 
on their estates, in their dwellings, and in whatever were their oc- 



%7 

cui)ations. If, however, the contrary proved to be tlie fact, the 
threats made by the Palatine should not deter him, and no one 
ought to wonder if he then acted according to the usages of war. 
In conclusion he repeated the wish that sighing ('hristendom, after 
long sutt'cring the direst extremity, should at last obtain a worthy 
peace. That these advances from liie Swede remained without 
effect on the loyalty of spirit ot the Palatine, Count Nicholas P",s- 
terhazy, towards his king is easily to l)e sujjposeil and was proved 
by the result. 

(418) However vigorously and energetically these measures for 
collecting an army, &c., on the part of the Austrians, were pressed 
forward, the mo;e the scattered forces for rescuing the fatherland 
from an arrogant foreign sway were concentrated, it is the more 
melancholy to see that even then a detestable party in Austria 
itself were secretly brooding over disgraceful treason. One ex- 
ample will suffice for understanding this. In the middle of April 
at Weitenegg on the Danube, where, as before mentioned, there 
was still an Imperial garrison, although the Swedes had already 
subjugated the whole Wach-au district, a man, who was in great 
haste to cross the Danube, was arrested as a suspicious character. 
On being searched a letter was found concealed in his walking- 
stick, in wiiich it was betrayed in detail to the Swedes, when, 
where and how they coui<l best gain posse.ssion of Vienna. 

On further examination the confused man at last confessed 
that he had received the letter from the Lutheran [?J Stiinde. [Is 
not this a Papist shift of responsibility on to innocent shoulders ?J 

The Empress suddenly left Vienna for (iratz. [The author 
thinks from a supposed plot to a.ssassinate the eleven-) ear-old 
Archduke Ferdinand Francis by a Frenchman.] 

(419) It was a singular coincidence of circumstances that, at the 
very moment when the Swedish forces la)- before \'ienna and held 
tile city almost in blockade (loth A])ril), the there resident Pa- 
pal Nuncio, by commission of the Pope, prepared a brief for 
setting free a sovereign prince ot the Oerman empire, who had 
been for eight years a jjrisoner in Vienna. This was Philip Chris- 
topher von Sotern, Elector of Treves, who, driven to extremities 
between Spain and the Netherlands, between France^ and the 
Swedish Protestant party, and abandoned by the Emperor and 
the League, could find no other recourse than, on the advance of 
the Swedes (Dec, 1631), to throw himself into the arms of 
France. Papal brief arrived in Vienna 20th March. 1640, under 
the thunder of the Swedish artillery. 

The nth of May the released prince left Vienna with a 
stately esOort and was forwarded on Imperial vessels with abun- 
dant supply of provisions to Passau, whence he continued his 



28 

journey. The circumstance that a festival should again take 
place in the just-before terror-stricken Vienna allows us to con- 
clude that here it was supposed that the most threatening danger 
was, at least for the moment, passed, after the withdrawal of the 
main body of the Swedes, although the Wolf-schanze was still 
occupied by a detachment of the enemy. (420) The emperor too 
allayed the fit of terror which had seized his officials, in the 
already-mentioned bulletin of the 26th April, with the com- 
forting words that the course of war-events was now in such a 
way altered that the dangers of war were no longer so great for 
the city of Vienna and all necessity for removing the govern- 
ment archi/esaway from that city was now at an end. |^In fact, 
the conquering Torstenson behaved, in respect to Vienna, as 
an honorable enemy, and as at the end of the Thirty Years' 
War, which, in the long duration of its cruelties had already 
drawn in and made savage a whole generation, could scarcely 
have been expected. |y He not only opened again the free- 
dom of commerce upon the Danube, under a certain toll, but 
returned to the subjects (Unterthanen — peasants, countrymen), 
under moderate conditions, the cattle he had seized. This con- 
duct was answered by responding courtesy on the part of the 
Viennese, in that, from time to time, Swedes were admitted 
into the city to purchase what they needed. Indeed, it is re- 
lated that a valet [chamberlain ?] of Torstenson came to Vienna 
from the Swedish headquarters at Stammersdorf with an Im- 
perial pass, in order to purchase for his master some thousand 
reichsthaler's worth of saddles and horse furniture, a circumstance 
which at first startled the Viennese not a little. They, how- 
ever, willingly, by this litde politeness, requited the considerate 
treatment which Torstenson accorded to the Imperial generals 
and superior officers captured by him. 

KyEven if it be supposed, from this, that just then Tor- 
stenson was not fully in earnest with the siege of Vienna, this 
occurrence is yet an honorable trait for both sides. ^^^^ 

(421) Even before the return of the Archduke Leopold William 
(he had gone to Pressburg to provide against a reported 
advance of Ragoczy) preparations had been commenced for 
reconquering the Wolfs-schanze fort, near Vienna, which was 
still occupied by the Swedes. As the most effective promoter 
of this understanding and its successful result we find the name 
of Colonel Frederic Reich, a name here (in these pages?) for 
the first time brought into remembrance after two hundred years. 

(422) ly Colonel Reich was not at the battle of Jankau. 
He intimates plainly that he was not wanted there. He, without 



29 

hesitation, ascribes the loss of the battle by the Imperialists to 
Torstenson's surpassing talents as a military commander.^^^J 

(423) Then Imperial troops were crossed over ni three 
vessels, who attempted to storm the breaches made by 
the artillery in the fort. Kallow [the Swedish commandant] 
and his men were obliged to retire into the iimermost work. 
Here too the Swedes defended themselves manfully, 
but the Imperial soldiers (424) [impressed men, deserters, 
perhaps] who were among them, so soon as they were 
under view of their countrymen outside, refused to fire or resist 
any longer and made from the breastworks the signal of volun- 
tary surrender with their hats. Finally, at four o'clock in the 
afternoon, the fort was taken by storm without the loss of a single 
man on the Imperialist side. . . . 

(424) It was, however, high time that the fort should be taken, 
for at 8 A. M. on the very next day (31st May, 1645), (ieneral Wit- 
tenberg, marching from the Hungarian frontier to the relief oj 
the fort, had arrived within a mile of it. He, however, turned 
about at once on receiving intelligence of what had happened. 
The fort was at once occupied by a sufficient Imperialist garrison 
and under the direction of Colonel Reich four redoubts were 
thrown up for securing an unrestricted commerce on the Danube. 
The Swedes ascribed the loss of the fort simply to the circum- 
stance that the forty Imperialist soldiers captured by them re- 
fused to make any further resistance, as the party who had 
penetrated the outer works pressed forward and began what they 
called a " treacherous union " with the I mi)erialist troops. 

(429) The plan for taking Krems by stratagem was foiled by the 
treachery of a citizen of the town and the lmj)erialist forces 
were obliged to withdraw with considerable loss, for Torstenson, 
on learning of the advance of the Imperialists, immediately 
detached 1.500 men to its relief. In Krems itself things seemed 
in an evil condition at this time, in consequence of the hostile 
occupation. The vineyards in a great measure torn up in making 
fortifications and trenches, lay, for a great distance around, de- 
stroyed, and gave, in this year, not the slightest yield. Many of 
the best buildings were burned down and ruined, as, for example, 
the golden Kammer Hof (Exchequer-Court — P^xchange), first 
])lundered and then demolished ; the rest had been obliged to 
furnish Swedish fpiarters and to jjay heavy contributions. Luth- 
eran preachers preached in the parish church (St. N'itus') and ad- 
ministered the sacrament in both kinds to many thousand coun- 
try people from LTpper Austria and Bohemia. Meantime not a 
single citizen of Krems deserted tl.e faith of his fathers. It 
should, however, be pro|)erly notice*! the enemy exercised not 



30 

the slightest compulsion in matters of faith ; on the contrary? 
they allowed the Catholic service to be held in the Jesuit church 
without interference. At the same time they prohibited any 
communication of the captured Imperialist soldiers with the 
Jesuit college, because the latter had brought themselves under 
a suspicion of secret correspondence with the former. 

(431) The Dominican cloister Imbach (formerly Minnbach), in 
the neighborhood of Krems, was spared by the enemy, from a most 
honorable feeling of gratitude. The nuns, indeed, had taken to 
flight on the approach of the Swedes, and gone to Salzburg, 
where they were hospitably received, at the Cloister of St. Peter, 
by Abbot Albert. I'hree lay-sisters, however, had remained be- 
hind, who exchanged their cloister costume for common dress 
and it so happening that the wife of the Swedish commander 
(Torstenson's .-') was delivered of a child in the cloister, these 
women tended the lady (Wochnerin) and her offspring with the 
kindest and most devoted care. As a handsome acknowledge- 
ment of this service, so it is said, the cloister remained un- 
touched; ... In a note (3) there is some account of Tor- 
stenson's wife, but it seems probable that the lady here mentioned 
was the wife Lt.Col. Hans Lundidh. 

(439) At the market town of Gaunersdorf, the inhabitants, 
alarmed by the approach of the Swedes, attempted to 
hide themselves in excavations in the ground, of which 
some may still be seen in the town market-place (im 
market) and in the parochial court-yard (im Pfarrhofe). In 
these, it is said, the enemy suffocated many of them with 
smoke and that others died of hunger. At a place outside 
the town where an already much weather.-beaten built-up 
pillar stands, at apoint where the road turns off to Hogersbrunn 
in the direction of Mistelbach. it is said that fifty inhabitants of 
Gaunersdorf fell into the hands of the Swedes and were butch- 
ered by them in the most horrible manner. The pillar is said to 
at once mark the place of this occurrence and that where the 
unfortunates were buried. Thus much is certain — the market- 
town of Gaunersdorf was in this year fired by the Swedes and 
burnt to the ground. 

(441) In the beginning of June the Generalissimo Archduke 
Leopold had gone to the shrine [of the black Virgin[ at Mariazell in 
Steyermark, to obtain fresh strength of soul for the approaching 
decisive crisis of the war, and to beg of the Disposer of our lots, 
victory for the forces entrusted to his leadership. While Torsten- 
son, with half of the forces at his disposal, continued in front of 
Briinn and pushed the siege with energy, but fruitlessly, Gallas 
marched on the roth of June from Vienna to join the troops -as- 



31 

sembled in Bohemia, with the purpose of making an unexpected 
diversion whicli might draw him off from the blockade of Briinn. 
There were already 14.000 men assembled at Schuttenhofen and 
thither Gallas (iroceeded by way of Budweis. The archduke was 
to join him with an additional 8,000 men who had already 
crossed the Danube. On the other hand the two Ragoc/.ys, 
father and son, were advancing with some thousands ot Hun- 
garian horsemen to strengthen 'I'orstenson's forces, but [Imperial 
Marshal] Puchheim followed from Hungary, close upon the two 
Ragoczys, to watch their proceedings. Notwithstanding this the 
young Ragoczy, after he had joined Torstenson at Brunn, sent 
out raiding parties in various directions ; i,ooo Hungarians made 
a dash as far as the bridges of Vienna, here fell uj)on some sub- 
jects of Count Hoyos who were about to cross over to Vienna, 
detached from their wagons 136 horses and knocked out the 
bottoms of many casks of w^ne. 

(442) Yet it was not allotted to the Emperor to remain longer in 
his capital for. as it were, to fill full the measure of tril)ulation for 
that year (1645) the destructive epidemic-pest (Pest-Seuche) 
brought by the hordes of Ragoczy from Hungary into Austria, 
l)roke out in the month of July with great severity. In Vienna 
itself from 30 to 40 fell a sacrifice to it daily. On account of 
it, the Vienna High-school was, after the autumn vacation, not 
reopened for that year. Throughout the city all measures were 
taken to prevent the sjjread of the disease, especially by the Im- 
perial orders of the 28th July, 19th August, and 20th November, 
1645; the Infection-Regulationsof the year 1644 were strictly en- 
forced. The police regulations taken in Vienna and issued 
through the public crier, strove to restrain the eating of unripe 
fruit and to j)revent any contamination of the air. Since, at that 
time, in the absence of our modern sewers, the refuse from the 
houses was carried by so-called gutters (Rinnsiile) into the main 
channels which ran in the middle of the streets and lanes, it was 
onlained that every house-holder should cause these gutters to be 
washed out three or four times a day. The fruit and poultry 
market was removed outside the city, the leather cutters and 
saddlers were no longer allowed, as before, to keep the skins re- 
fjuired by their business in the city. The butchers and wine 
shops were obliged to cleanse the air of their stalls and cellars 
with Kronawet-rauch from the hurtful exhalations. The physi- 
cian, Dr. Strasser, was charged with issuing passes for those who 
wished to be removed from the infet:ted houses to the Spittal-au 
(hospital mead or meadow), whence, however, they were not al- 
lowed to return to the city for forty days. He it was, too, who, 
at aJater period, issue<1 bills of health to those who wished to 



M2 

visit llic I inpcn.il rcsidcni c ;il St. I'(')llcii. In .k Mil n m, it 
was ()I(Umt(I that pcoplr should not tun .ij^autst ('a< li oIIhi In tin- 
sticrls, (?) and thai no one should show liorror (! ?) w hrii |) issiiiij 
the la/.arcllns (|)r;.i hospitals). I'',vrry sick prrson who <lid nol 
wish to jj;o In ihc hospitals was al librrly lo remain al his house. 
but secluilcd ,iihI id his own way (nacii ihtrr ( tfli'm'nlu'il — ron- 
vonicncc) pass liuough his siikncss and ini'dical Ircalmcnl. I'V-ar- 
ful were tlu* ravages ol this devaslatinf.', <Iisease. In in;in\ houses 
of both W'ienerwalder-Kreise all were dead. rh(\ icni.nned de 
seited, and willingly would the owners have nnlcd them lor 
nothiii).;, it thev < ()\tld only iiave procured tenants (Still l.euti-). 
The Minperor reniaine*! (until past the inid<lle ol August) as lonj; 
in Vienna as it was possible to do so, wilhont cNlrenic dai)i;er lo 
the safety ol hiinsell and ol his lainily. 

(,|.|-^) The I'.inperor wrote to Mriinn that the Art hdiike was do 
ing liis best to niairh to their reliel. I'or the lMn|)eror did not yet 
know that on the day before, altei a sixteen weeks' siege, during 
whi( h It had held out through the heroic bravery of its citizens, its 
students, and of the garrison under the skilllul conuuand ol Col- 
onel dr Sotiches, Mrunn \\m\ been freed from the enemy and won the 
crown of undying military lonowti and unchangeable loyalty. 
l'"or Torslenson, whose troops were infecteil with the pest from the 
wild hordi's ot Kagoc/.y to such an extent that two regimentshad 
almost entirely died ol il, while the rest were sulli-ring from 
tliarrluoa brought on by the immoderate eating ol fruit, could the 
less cherish any hope ol a successful result ; that, a I the very 
linu", the peace negotiations commenced by the hanperor with 
Ragoc/y h.id come to a favorable conclusion. It was a happy 
( oiiu idence ol ciicumstances. alter a long period of dark troul)l<', 
that on the \c\\ d.i\ when the siege of Hrunn was lully ab.in 
doned, /. (-. the .!.|thol .\iigust, the, it list successtul, closing olVa 
treaty with Kagoe/.y (on the iM\ ol Augiisl) was proclaimed 
amid the cheers of thousands, and that a I'e Deiim «-ou!d be 
performed at N'ienna for this important eviMil. 

(.(.(.|) The I'anperor with the Archduke I .("opold )ourne\cd to 
1, in/., whence the l'',mi)eror, as Kingol Hungary, under dale of ihc 
ir>th of St'ptembei. issued the important etiict whicli. under the 
n.ime ol the I, in/ Pacification, ai\d at the demand ot Kagoc/y, 
secured lo the rrolest.'ints ol llungaiv the lri>e c\cit ise ol iheir 
religion. 

Torslenson, lor his part, alter raising the siege of Ihimn and 
alter pn>liminarily lorwarding his wife, with the t>lher li'inales and 
a considei.ible amount of treasure, to Olmiit/, under escort ot 
( "oloiiel raikul, had marched with his main boih lo Mislelbath. 
Ileie he .illowcd his troops some da\s ol repose and st'Ul olV. 



tilitk'r (l.ilr til the ^(>lh III .\iij;ii'<t, a (U'l.iilnl ic|i(iil iii ulinli lu' 
gave the reasons Ini ii-iiiiii^ 111)11) Ititiini and :iii .it counl til Ka 
g(H/.y's rallii))^ (ill hum llu- Swctlisli t;uisc. Ilcic also lu* lii'ld 
coiiiuils ol w.ii .1'. Id lilt" plans lor linlluT oix'ialions. 'Ihc dr 
('isioi\ was It) III. Ill li tliic't ily npon llu> AusUians and t)llcr llit-ni 
li.illlf. Ill t .isr lllt•^ wonltl not at t i-pl il, then It) cross I h<" I). in 
uIk' and so make llu- sonlli liank also a pari ol the (lu-alic til 
operations. . . . iMom Mistelbaeh Toislensoii sent Miijor 
(Jencral W'illcnherg with 3,000 eiw.dry to llu* Vienn;i hritlj^es, 
hut lliis ciiil li:iil no success anti t tisl llie Swedes .pi men, who 
well" brought piisoners into Vii-nna. 

On the other haml ihe .Swi-tle n.ive loose in llie iinillicui di. 
ti'iets to his disconleni, al llie liinlless sie^e ol lUiinn antI al 
Kagoc/y's want <)( lailh, Wv pliiiitleiing evi'iythin^ in tlu- region 
of Nikolshur^ ami by bmnin^lhiily m.irkel-plai es, atlvant in^ his 
troops to .\usleilil/..intl I'eltlsberj;, ami st tirehinn ami binninj; up 
to within two |St)r 10 l',nglish| miles ol Krems. Then he liictl 
his cam|i at Mislelbai h ami man hetl, lowaitis llie mitltlle ol .Sep 
tembor, with tlu" print ipal p.iit ol his Ibii fs lo Sloekei an, alter 
he had, with a wide swath, wasletl the couniry toward llun^.n-y. 
While here he most ener^fctically pushed Ibrward im reasin^ ihe 
lorlirieations of Korncuburg, which city he raisi'd to the riink ol 
an actual lortress, so that the town previi)usly tielended by walls, 
alter Ttirstenst)!! hati given the labor ol 6no men for lomleen 
days in construi ling ravi-lins, was lully cap.ible ol w illra.indiii)' a 
long siege .iml for keeping tlu- ct)unlry, lor a wiile t iit le aromitl 
il, unth-r t tinlribution. To this end the Swedish Colonel Copy 
was maile conunamlant, (joo nien thrown in as garrist)n ami llie 
place prtivisionetl lor a year antI supplieil with artiller)' .iml am 
munition. 

( p|fi) The .Archthike h.iil, wilh sixleen ImptiialisI ri'gimenis 
(only, however, 5,378 men) suc< esslully hasteneil lo ihe assistance 
of the Mavarians against tlu* atlvanting P'rem h. The remaining 
Imperial troops, umk-r I'mhheim ami ( i.dlas, although severely 
troubled by the pest ami by diarrhtea, w.'Uched with great strict 
ness the right bank of the J )anube, and had thrown up not less 
ih.Hi lilty one Torts in the dire<lH)n ol I, in/. Since all the t ross- 
lug points ol the Danube were ihus shut against ctinnnunii alioii, 
'I'orsli-nson tliil ntil receive intelligence of the march t)l the .Art h 
duke until eight tiays alter his dejiarture, when il was loo lali" It) 
lolltiw him. Vet il Torstenson h.iil actually broken ;u ross the 
D.mube, the high nu)untains aiul narrow tieliles of Upper Auh- 
Iria woultl have nu)st materially interleretl with the movenu'nls 
ol" a large army — since, while so strictly gu.niletl by ihe Imper 
iaiists, the crossing ol the Danube, unless it were Iro/.en, was ab 



34 

solutely impossible for the Swedes, and since tliey, after such 
long-continued severe exertions, stood in need of a long rest,Tor- 
stenson was obliged to hasten in evacuating the already exhausted 
district in which he was, before the wet autumn weather had 
softened the ground and rendered it impassable, for the purpose 
of securing safe winter quarters at some other point, especially as 
it was always to be supposed that the Archduke Leopold Wil- 
liam might, in conjunction with the Bavarians, at some unex- 
pected moment break out from the mountain passes. After Tor- 
stenson, in the beginning of October, had undermined the castle 
of Kreutzenstein, near Korneuburg, in four places and blown it 
into the air, he was obliged to content himself, for that year, to 
strengthen and provision several places already occupied by the 
Swedes, such as Korneuburg and Krems ; but he could only put 
garrisons into Falkenstein, Staaz, Nikolsburg and Rabensburg, 
for the purpose of keeping open the free communication between 
Olmutz and Iglau. This done, he first proceeded to Iglau, to 
which place he had sent, in advance, 300 wagons loaded with 
cloth and other military necessities ; then he moved into Bohemia 
in order to here fix in winter quarters his wearied and thinned- 
out troops. Puchheim and Fernemont here too followed close 
after him. On crossing the Bohemian frontier, however, the 
wasting sicknesses afflicting Torstenson's army ceased. 

(447) At this time, /. e. in the month of October, the Imperialists 
made a fresh attempt upon Krems, in that they cannonaded it 
and really gained possession of the two outworks, St. John and 
Weinzierl ; these, however, were unexpectedly retaken in the be- 
ginning of November by the Swedish commandant and a fresh 
closing of the Danube followed. No further advantage was 
gained by the Imperialists at this time. Krems remained, up to the 
6th of May, 1646, in the occupation of the Swedes under Lieut - 
Colonel Hans Lundidh of the Axel-Lilje regiment. Here the 
contribution moneys had to be paid and from here the Swedish 
Commissary-General, Frederic Thilesius, so exercised his work of 
provisioning the garrison that on occasion it became regular rob- 
bery. 

(454) In concluding what we have to record in relation to the 
year 1645 one circumstance, very lamentable in its results, cannot be 
passed over and which, although it did not happen in Austria 
proper had, alas, a very near bearing on it. It has been already 
mentioned that the Swedish Colonel Paikul was commissioned, 
after the abandoning of the siege of Brunn, to escort the wife of 
Torstenson, with the other Swedish females, to Olmutz. The 
thoughtless talk of a Jesuit of that place, named George Pelinza, 
who, with very ill-timed wit, spoke of a treasure amounting to 



35 

many thousands, nK-anini^ thereby the costly hbrary of the Jesuit 
college at (Jlmutz. awakened Paikul's atte'ntion, and he shortly 
afterward, in company witii some officers, visited the library and 
in fact took nmch interest in it. And lo ! after a few weeks a 
Swedish librarian appeared, who selected, not only from the 
library of the Jesuit college, but from the other cloister libraries 
of Moravia, the choicest printed and manuscript works. From 
the archives, too, and especially from those of the town-hall at 
Olmutz, he took the most valuable documents, and sent loo wa- 
gons, loaded with books and manuscripts from all Moravia, to 
Sweden. (Murray, Guide Book Southern Germany, p. 409, says 
these books remained till near the close of the i8th Century at 
Stralsund, packed up in readiness to be conveyed to Sweden. 
Since then all traces of them are lost. — W. P. W.) The endeavor 
has been made in later times to clear Torstenson from any con- 
nection with this plundering of the libraries and archives of Mor- 
avia and Bohemia, and to ascribe the fatherland's loss in this re- 
spect to a disagreeable general ])assion for accjuisition on the part 
of Konigsmark, Wrangel and Paikul, but could Paikul without 
the knowledge of the commander-in-chief have levied such a 
war-contribution of literary and archival valuables ? 

1646. 

(455) According to the plan ofoperationsfor this year, as formed 
by Torstenson, the first care of the Swedes was to maintain the 
army and to effect a junction with the French, and until this was 
done to attempt nothing of capital importance. Thiij, once car- 
ried out, however, then with their united forces they were to ilrive 
the enemy over the Danube. But the result was different from 
the calculations. 

Insomuch as our narration of military events confines itself, 
by our intention, entirely to the events occurring in Lower Aus- 
tria, this year offers the precise counterpart of the one preceding 
it. If then the concjuering enemy, with crushing footsteps, threat- 
ened the very residence of the Fmperor, we now, in 1646, see 
the Swedes (dejjrived of any hope as to a lasting and effective 
alliance with Ragoczy and turning their regards towards France 
as their last anchor of hope) more and more cripi)led in their en- 
terprise against Austria. On the contrary we see the Imperialist 
forces growing stronger in returning self-confidence and under a 
proved leader finally able to eject the enemy from all the strong 
places occupied by him, so that by the end of August not a single 
one remained in Lower Austria. At the very commencement of 
1646 troops of Puchheim had been assembled on the north side 
of the Danube near Vienna, with the intention of marching on 



36 

Budweis (in conjunction with the regiments Pompejo, Pallavicini, 
Gonzaga, Ferrara, Rebenstock and Wachenheim, from the south 
side). As, however, a deep snow covered the country, far and 
wide, the citizens of Vienna were obhged to provide several hun- 
dred wagons with their teams for the purpose of forwarding these 
Imperiahst troops with all speed to Bohemia. There yet re- 
mained a proper reserve of troops stationed on the Danube. The 
Emperor at the time remained constantly at Linz. 

(457) ^V'ith the end of February, 1646, as already stated, the 
hard-pressed inhabitants of Horn were released from all contri- 
butions after the Swedes had entirely evacuated that region. 

On their departure there were in the town of Horn only 75 
left of 86 houses ; in the whole lordship of Horn only a total of 125 
still standing. Meantime Ragoczy, in spite of the peace he had 
concluded with the Emperor in August of the preceding year, had 
(unterm) 22d February, 1646, attempted treacherously to renew 
his former alliance with the Swedes and France on the condition 
that the consent of the Divan should be first obtained by these 
powers, and the subsidies agreed upon punctually paid. But 
Ragoczy's faithlessness could no longer win any trust from these 
powers and the whole proposal came to nothing, especially as, in 
case of its acceptance, France and Sweden must sacrifice large 
sums of money. Thus Ragoczy was forced, much against his 
will, to preserve at least the appearance of being honorable, and 
to remain in peaceful relations with the Emperor. 

In the meantime the new military commandant for Austria 
(Obrist-Feld-Zeugmeister — Lt. -Colonel of Ordnance ? [perhaps 
equivalent to a General of Division or Corps-Commanderj ) Count 
John Christopher von Puchheim, had pushed everything forward 
with the purpose of entirely driving the enemy out of Lower 
Austria witli the greatest energy ; that, what with the continued 
barricading of the Danube, constantly made raids of the enemy, 
the severe oppression ot large contributions, and the merciless 
proceedings in collecting the latter, Uie condition of aftairs had 
become absolutely unbearable for any longer time. 

Scarcely had the api)roaching sj^ring melted the deep snow 
when the Swedes recommenced their burdensome hostilities in 
every direction. Count Puchheim had, in the beginning of 
March, scarcely left his last headquarters at Gross-Enzersdorf on 
the Danube, when the Swedish raiders at once fired the place, and in 
consequence the church and large supplies of grain became the prey 
of the flames. Shortly after,, about the loth of March, 1500 
troopers sacked the lordship of Orth and the Swedes in Korneu- 
burg had done the same to Mistelbach and Poysdorf on account 
of refused contributions. 



^7 

(459) It happened that nearly at tlie same time the city ot Vienna 
had to suffer from both water and fire. By reason of the sud- 
denly melted snow from the mountains the river was, in the 
beginning of March, swollen to an extraordinary height and car- 
ried away three [wooden-[)iers] (Joche) of the Vienna drawbridge 
and six i)iers of the Danube Long-bridge, so the work of repair- 
ing hail to be made with all speed in order to restore the imperi- 
ously necessary communication between the two banks of the 
l^anube. On the other hand, on (lood Friday, 30th of Marcli, 
(1646), at eleven o'clock at night, througii carelessness of the 
housekeeper (Haus-meister) fire broke out in the royal castle at 
Vienna and caused great damage. Fortunately the court was 
not then at the castle, for the emperor lived continually at Linz, 
for which place the Imperial War-Counsellor and Forester 
Schmidt had left with splendid Turkish carpets and other presents 
of the Bassa of Ofen and carrying the assurance, in the name of 
the latter, that the military preparations of the Turks in Ofen were 
entirely against the Venetians. At the same time it was reported 
from (jrat/, that the Turks were already making forays into Hun- 
gary and plundering and burning one village after another, and, 
among others, had led off as prisoners many people from the 
estates of Count Budiani. 

(462) SiEGK OF Krems by THE Imperialisis. — .Already in 
the beginning of May it was hoped speedily to obtain jjossession 
of Krems, when the chancellor of Hungary, Count Veselenyi, 
on his journey to the Imperial court encampment at Linz, jjassed 
through the neighborhood. Count Puchheim did not neglect to 
show him all the preparations for a vigorous siege, in order that 
the latter might communicate to the ]<^mperor the secure hope ot 
a happy result. Count Puchheim and Lieutenant Field-Marshal 
Hunoldstein, personally sui)erintended all the siege operations 
and passed a great i)art of their time in the approaches and at 
the (advanced) posts, so that the rapid ])rogre.ss of the operations 
might be strenuously maintained. While work was continued 
without interruj)tion on the mines, the flanks of the bastions in 
the directions of Stein and Galgenberg, and then in that of the 
Wachterthorl, were in the most ]iart ruined for the use of the 
Swedes by mere quarter-charges (Quartier-schlagen ?) On the 
side of the besiegers, from the commander-in-chief down to the 
common soldier, all were cheerful. .Some thought that Lundidh 
(the Swedish commander) would not let things proceed to ex- 
tremities, especially as he had his wife and children with him and 
could not well calculate on the siege being raised. Others, on 
the contrary, thought it might be considered conclusive, from his 
activity in counter-works, that Luntlidh sec;;rely counted on re- 



38 

lief. He spared his soldiers in every possible way, but, on the 
other hand, forced the peasantry to the most exhausting labor 
and used them, too, for sentry duty and as musketeers. Indeed, 
he even pushed them, instead of the soldiers, into the most ad- 
vanced works. What must have been the feelings of these (462), 
as they were forced to risk their lives in repulsing the forces which 
were to relieve them from their calamities, may be easily conceived. 
Lundidh caused also many houses, although no churches, to 
be completely levelled ; as to the others he took off their 
roofs and heaped sand about (on) them, to keep them from 
injury by the enemy's artillery. [Did he cover the upper 
floors with sand ? ] By a lucky find the besieged had also obtained 
160 cwt. [Zentner) of powder that had been buried. The Impe- 
rialists were meanwhile ready to batter a breach in the walls, the 
mines only were waiting for completion. Since, however, the 
Emperor, for the purpose of sparing the common soldiers,. ex- 
pressly commanded that the place should not be stormed until 
the mines had done their work, the final assault had yet to be de- 
layed for a while. Puchheim therefore pushed forward the work 
unceasingly, in order to finish the mines as soon as possible, and 
in order that the besieged might at least be kept continually at 
their posts and so the sooner become exhausted. At last the 
work was advanced so far that Puchheim might hope to batter a 
breach by evening and then the next morning the more conve- 
niently to press upon the Swedes, as they were engaged in repair- 
ing it. On all sides courage and determination were predomi- 
nant. All hoped to reconquer the town for the Emperor within 
twenty-four hours. General Puchheim was present wherever 
he was needed and shunned no danger (463) so that the common 
soldiers could not conceal their anxiety that he should take greater 
care of his person, lest, by some unlucky chance, the whole un- 
dertaking should be endangered and brought into confusion, as 
indeed only a short time before, Captain Lorenzo, abandoned by 
his soldiers, had been thrust through by the Swedes and carried 
into the town. 

The siege was continued with activity, and soon one work 
near the Vienna gate was taken and the Swedish soldiers occupy- 
ing it were mostly slaughtered. At the same time several towers 
on the fortifications of the town were battered down. But still 
no general storming-attack had been undertaken. 

Then, just arrived from the Imperial court camp at Linz, and 
after the recapture of Nikolsburg in Moravia (12th April), Colo- 
nel de Souches, the glory-crowned defender of Briinn, joined Puch- 
heim. 



-39 

The troops destined for conducting the siege were now as- 
signed to three head([uartcrs. 

I. In tlie hamlet of Weinzierl Colonel de Mers had his 
headcjuarters with his regiment, in the angle formed below the 
Vienna gate by the junction of the Krems and the Danube. Here 
approaches and redoubts were ready, a battery was built and 
downstream towartl the Danube two mortars (/y/Z/^v) were posted. 
There was also a second grand battery on the hill alongside the 
road to Langenlois. 

II. In the first mill lying in the Krems valley was Colonel 
Count John Colloredo and in the second mill Hunoldstein, each 
with their regimental cjuarters. Their batteries, connected by aj)- 
proaches and redoubts, commanded the town on the north on the 
Reben-hiigel hills, from the " Laimgrube " onward. In advance 
of these batteries at one point two, at another three mortars were 
planted. 

III. The regiments Ranfift and Traun had, on the other hand, 
established themselves in Stein. Their approaches and redoubts 
were between the Capucin cloister Und and the Steiner-gate of 
Krems. 

[" Between Krems and Steui is a solitary building, once a 
monastery, now a military hospital, called Und, which gave rise 
to a riddle : ' Krems and ( Utui) Stein are three jjlaces.' " Mur- 
ray's '•\SoutIiern Germany," Route 197, Danube (D).] 

The principal battery of Colonel Ranfft, consisting of ten field 
Karthaunen [48 pdrs.J, stood on the Calgenberg. Two mortars 
were in front of the Capucin cloister. 

In addition to the above, two small batteries were erected on 
the island which had been retaken by General Field-Marshal- 
Lieutenant von Hunoldstein, in order to command the town on 
the fourth side, /. e. that of the Watergate on the Danube. This 
island, wliich has since been swept away, lay directly opposite to 
the Danube side of Krems. 

Altogether there were then some fifty battery [siege] pieces 
and Karthaunen and ten mortars in active work against the town. 
A heavy fire was maintained on both sides. The besiegers, it is 
true, had soon battered down the battlements of the town-walls 
and several of the little sijuare fortress-towers, yet they also re- 
ceived much damage from the unceasing fire from the town. It 
was, therefore, the ne.xt object to command the town from the 
near hill-slopes. Great difiiculties had to be contended against in 
getting up the cannon over the dreadfully cut up clay-ground, and 
since horses could not be used for the purpose, 800 (4^)4) musketeers 
were harnessed in order to pull up one piece afier the other. 
[Calculating 800 men at a tractile power of 175 pounds each, 



40 

they could draw 120,000 pounds, and taking one horse at a trac- 
tile power of 1200 pounds, these 800 men exercised the draught 
force of TOO horses. W. P. W.] After that, wearying as it was, 
they had thus occupied the heights, the siege guns commanded 
the whole town, which now, fully overtopped, was exposed to 
their fire. At the north-east side of the town, at its highest forti- 
fied point, there arose a massive [miichtiger) round-tower with an 
outstanding machicoulis gallery \vorgeschobener Zituien-Gallene), 
called the '■'■Lueg ins Land." Its walls were said to have been of 
extraordinary strength, according to accounts, probably exagge- 
rated, five to six Klafter (fathoms, 30-40 feet) in thickness. Lundidh 
had surrounded this tower with double entrenchments, and stored 
it with great suppUes of food and ammunition, intending here to 
hold out to the uttermost, even if he had to give up the town. 
This tower was, or course, the principal objective of the besiegers, 
and Colonel de Souches had, immediately on his arrival, advised the 
opening of a mine under it. Meantime, a messenger had been 
captured with dispatches, from which it appeared that the Swedish 
garrison of Korneuburg proposed, at an early date, to make a di- 
version in favor of that in Krems. In fact, the garrison of Krems 
sent some messengers with letters to the commandant of Korneu- 
burg and to the Swedish head-quarters, urgently asking for relief. 
These letters, hidden in a loaf of bread, reached Korneuburg, but 
the answer of the commandant of Korneuburg was given to the 
messenger concealed in a hollow stick. The messenger on the 
road fell in with some imperial troopers who required that he 
should show them their way. On his refusing to do so and deport- 
ing himself obstinately, the troopers seized the stick and cudgelled 
him thoroughly with it. The stick broke in two and the letters 
fell out. When the besiegers ascertained the contents of these 
letters, the town was bombarded with such renewed energy that 
directly twelve houses burst into flames. Notwithstanding this, 
the besieged made a daring sally and dragged back many prisoners 
into the town. On this, de Souches, who, as has been said, counted 
very much on the good effects from laying mines, caused such to 
be laid against the fortifications at three places. 

The siege guns, distributed in twelve batteries, had now kept 
up an almost unceasing fire the whole day and night of the 4th 
of May, and on the 5th of May, up to 2 p. m. Already two breaches 
had been established, one near the Vienna-gate, the other, and 
greater, between the Wiichter-gate and the "Lueg ins La?id." Yet 
the besieged endeavored, with fiery energy, to remedy the 
breaches by forming extemporized retrenchments (Abschnitte). 

NoTR, — Abschnitte [Reduif, Retirade, Coupnre) are those pa- 
rapets and ditches, or with fascines, gabions, sandbags, &c., 



41 

hastily constructed barricades which the besieged erect at any 
part of the bastions, outworks, (S:c., which have been thrown down 
by mines or battering. They thus obtain a fresli breastwork, and 
hinder the progress (pressing in) of the besieger. For tliis ol)je(t, 
such phices are also, according to circumstances, strengthened by 
palisades, and so-called pallrai)s, or crows-foots (W'urfeisen, Fuss- 
angein, Chaussetrapes, Murex vel 'I'ribulus ferreus) are thrown about 
outside. These are irons [caltrops] with, generally, four points, 
so arranged that, however it falls, one point projects upwards. 
[An Abschnitt may be original, not extemporized. — \V. 1'. W.j 

(465) When, however, at last, the great scjuare tower at the 
Vienna-gate gradually fell, the advanced works at that jilace, 
as also the ravelin at the Steiner-gate had been set on fire anil 
destroyed, the mighty '•'■Luegins Land" battered down, and then 
a great breach made above the Steiner-gate, such as could not be 
" retrenched ;" when, on the part of the besieged, no relief could 
be well reckoned on — then, at last, they had to abandon all hojje 
of further defense, and negotiations were begun. Puchheim de- 
manded by a drummer a surrender at discretion. The Swedes 
declared they had rather die than surrender unconditionally, 
^p^ The heroic demeanor of the Swedes throughout the siege, 
and their now unmistakable strength of resolution, could not but 
fill the conqueror with respect — and, at once, hostages were ex- 
changed, and honorable terms were treated of ^^^^ Finally, it was 
agreed that the Swedish commandant, with that part of his troops 
who had never been in the Imperial service, should march out 
with flying colors, bag and baggage, arms and armor [0/>er- und 
Utitergewchr) and with muskets, pikes and sidearms, and should 
be escorted to the Swedish headquarters at Gross Glogau in Sile- 
sia. Conseijuently, the heroic Lieutenant-Colonel Lundidh, with 
150 Swedes, marched, on the 6th of May, out of the town, their 
brave defense of which during a full month deserves, from a mili- 
tary point of view, the highest, all possible credit. That part of 
the garrison (250 men) who had formerly been in the Imperial 
service, remained behind. 

(465, 466) NoTE.~i. In X\\<tT]te(.jtrum Europcciim (v. ic68) is a 
neat bird's-eye view. 2. Ground plan [Situations-pla/i) of Kremsat 
its capture, by Franz Pironi. 3. An entirely independent but co- 
inciding ground ])lan, by Eusebius Mayr. 

(466) The Imperial troops at once moved into the town, where 
they found notable suj)plies of food and ammunition. Yet, Krems, 
which had been occupied by the Swedes since the 31st of March, 
1645, and through this time had sufi'ered all the evils of a hf)stile 
occupation, presented a pitiable appearance. 'I'he fortifications 
were ruined, the houses unroofed, and many of them terribly torn 



42 

by shot; 12 of them completely burned down. Including these 
last, of the 308 houses of the town, iii must have been torn 
down, 18 remained uninhabited, and only 179 were in good con- 
dition and used as dwellings. 500 florins were paid out as a 
reward to Puchheim's artillery officers, who had more especially 
contributed to the recapture of the town. As regarded the war 
expenses, however, there arose a great contest between the towns 
of Krems and Stein, since Stein obstinately refused any contribu- 
tion toward them. 

The recapture of Krems was an event of marked moral effect 
in the scale of Imperial success. After a year filled with lament- 
able losses, at last once more a token of ])0wer on the soil ot 
Lower Austria could not but revive, with fresh vigor, throughout 
a wide circle, Hope, long absent or frightened away, into re- 
newed energy. 

(476) Torstenson closed, in the autumn of 1646, with the 
taking of Leitmeritz, his career as military commander in the 
field; after that he had already, at the commencement of the 
year, on account of the increase of his sickness, most urgently 
prayed the Queen [of Sweden] for liberty to lay down his com- 
mand. Finally, on the 28th April, 1646, the Queen [Christina] 
filled out the plenary commission for Torstenson's successor, al- 
ready long before prepared or educated up to the position, 
Charles Gustavus Wrangel, now Field Marshal [to enjoy the 
weight of sufficient rank.] l^Sii//, the latter, according to his 
INSTRUCTIONS, Undertook 7iothif!g of importance, so lotis^ as Torsten- 
son remained in Germany, without Torstenson'' s advice. Those 
hostile to the Swedes 7vere in exstacies over the departure of the 
dreaded Commander-in- Chief Torstenson, and reckoned his removal 
equivalent to the loss of ten thousand men by the Swedes [the 
estimate of David by his people (II. Kings xviii. 3), equivalent, 
when men of might had grown so scarce, to the elimination 
of an army. When Tilly, in April, 1631, threw 8,000 to 10,000 
chosen veteran troops, horse and foot, into Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 
General Mitchell, an able military critic (W. 198), remarks that 
such a force was "an army rather than a garrison." In fact, 
8,000 to 10,000 highly disciplined, seasoned soldiers constituted 
an army throughout the greater part of the Thirty Years' War. 
Another military writer styled this garrison of Frankfort, " an 
army corps," a term and organization which does not date back 
further than 1805, and represents a force usually equal to a re- 
spectable army. Gustavus A.dolphus landed in Germany with 
only 13,000 men, and his whole force on German soil scarcely 
numbered 20,000. With these he had to meet immediately 
quadruple his strength, old soldiers, in fortresses and fortified 



48 

towns and positions. [Gfrolrcr (529) estimates that Gustavus 
had 20,000 to meet 160,000. | But, then, the Swedes, ofticers 
and men, were without ecjuals and, after Gustavus, the greatest 
man undoubtedly was Torstenson. 

S^^ Reader, remember, all the praise of Torstenson and the 
Swedes emanates from the pen of an Austrian, whose country was 
more thoroughly subjected by Torstenson than by any i)revious 
commander. Notwithstanding the influence of natural bias, this 
author, Feil, is compelled to concede to this enemy the highest 
possible cai)acity and superlative courage as a Soldier, and chival- 
ric magnanimity and compassionate generosity as a Man. ,^j 



A HERO OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY., 

" Om denna hfeltens ar.a 
Europa liapcii an hat evigt vittne bara." 

SvENSKA FkIHERRN. 

["To (Marshal Leonard Tostenson's) this liero's glorj' 
Europe aghast, e'erlasting witness liears in story."] 



From Tlie Volunteer, Vol. I., No. 1, 1866. By J. Watts de Pktster. 



Tliis is an attempt to portray the cliaracter and acliievcments of one 
of llic most ]H'rfe('t men who have ever illustrated the possihililies of 
our kind ; great as a soldier, general, specialist, organizer, administrator, 
(lil)lonialist, patron of the arts — in faet as an exemi)lar in every direction 
whitlier patriotism and duty or intellect led; actripjiled invalid endowed 
liy will-power willi all the attribiiles of strength ; a servant of the stale 
whose aliililics made him iniiispensahle to Ids government and country, 
ever seeking the repose neces.sary to his infirmities, yet from youth to 
prime, when he perished a victim to liis maladies, to tlie absolute necessity 
of crises and to existing circumstances ; pure as a man ; as remarkable for 
bis virtues, which render the fandly circle perfectly happy, as for that 
other higher grade of virtues which elevate the pui)lic servant into tJie 
restricted class which ordinary humanity recognize as superhvnnan in 
their general s\i]H'riority to the weaknesses and faidts of their species. 
lie has been styled "tlie modern Hannil)al," on account of bis snperla 
live sirategems or strategy, without having a tinge of that bitterness and 
littleness which degrades those gifts into mere savage cuniung. lie pos 
se.ssed every characteristic of a great captain, but, while he exhibited all 
the (pndities which made the noble and extraordinary CaJthaginian the 
grandest exem|)lar of a i)atriolic leadei', the jiilol of a stale and consnm 
male conunaniler of men. he was not blendshcd by a single one of the de- 
fects attributed by the jealousy, malice and haired, engendered by fear of 
eneuiies, to that victorious Punic: general, recognized in all aget; and by 
tlie best judges as tlie most wonderful of military chieftains and civil ad- 



44 

ministrators. Moreover, Torsteiisoii enjoyed tlie exceptional honor of be- 
ing able, at a period when time and tolcniiion liad divested even extraordi- 
nary outrages and crimes of surprise and horror — even after two decades of 
unrestrained military license and fast and faster developing devihuent — 
(witness Wrangel, Piccolomini, even in KJ-Jy) — of exerting an inlliience 
sufUcient to humanize hitherto inhuman war. As Psalm Ixxvi. 10, 
declares, Torstenson — to whose thoughts tlie language and admonitions of 
Scripture was ever present—under God, ma<le it so that " Surely the wrath 
of man shall praise Thee, tM rem<ii)ider of wrath shalt Thou restrain." 

The people of the present era, more particularly the people 
of the United States, are too prone to believe that recent events 
are in reality greater and grander than those more remote. Thus 
the fame of Napoleon eclipsed that of Frederic the Great, just 
as the latter in his day overshadowed the exemphiry men through 
whom modern war had a new birth, and by whom the tactics of 
the Romans, almost superhuman in their simple efficacy, were 
adapted to fire-arms ; and wings, indeed, were lent to the thun- 
der-bolts of war — artillery. Nor are the seamen of the present 
day as enterprising as those who lived contemporaneous with the 
new birth of naval warfare. Had the men who almost attained 
the North Pole (at all events approached as near, if not nearer 
to it, than subsequent Arctic navigators) known of the power ot 
steam in the marine engine, the tri-color of Holland would have 
floated, two centuries ago, from the northern extremityof the axis ot 
this globe. While the sailors of to-day go down to the sea in great 
ships, the sailors of two centuries since ventured amid the Arctic 
ice, fought fleet to fleet within the Arctic circle, circumnavigated 
the globe, had their " River Fights " and their " Bay Fights," 
founded and subverted empires, in single vessels and in squadrons 
of " fly-boats " scarcely larger than the tenders of our navy. 

We Americans have just witnessed and lived through a great 
civil war which lasted four years, a " war of emancipation," for 
the liberation of an inferior colored race from physical slavery, 
which, in some respects, was the grandest conflict for progress 
ever brought to a successful termination in so short a period and 
at so little cost of suffering. Still there was a greater conflict for 
the emancipation of the white race inaugurated two hundred and 
sixty-seven years ago(i6i8-48); which, instead of fouryears, lasted 
thirty years. This conflict almost depopulated some of the most 
thickly peopled districts of Middle Europe, and converted all the 
lands between the Oder and the Rhine, the Baltic and the Danube, 
into one blood-soaked battlefield and left it strewed with corpses, 
ruins and ashes. During these thirty years massacres occurred, per- 
petrated by veteran soldiers, under the eyes of generals deemed 
humane for the era, wliich rivaled the horrors of Fort Pillow and 
Leavenworth, and wholesale atrocities were permitted which 



4^ 

ci|ii:illcd the calculalcd l)ail»arity of Belle Isle and Andersonville. 
In one respect, liowever, the hordes of disci])lined savaj^es f)f the 
'I'hirly Years' War exceeded in horrors the partisans of the South 
during the Slaveholders' Rebellion. As far as regarded the feebler 
sex and non-combatants, the worst fiends of hell seenieil let loose 
upon the earth, andwiiolesale rape, refined torture and protracted 
misery, which, t(; escape, made death a boon, were of daily occur- 
rence, in multitudinous cases connived at by the most elevated, 
applied by the most liberal, and employed as measures of war 
by men who, in their private lives, were as exemplary as can be, 
consistent with bigotry, politics and statecraft. 

Of the three of the four great ])owers who, in fact, fought out 
and decided this protracted conflict, the only one which displayed 
any moderation was Sweden, the champion of free thought, 
which acted the same part in the bloody drama, K: 18-1648, as 
the Union armies, 1861-1865. The Swede, a foreigner in the 
land, was an angel of light as compared with the (ierman, de- 
mons of darkness towards Germans, or the barbarous tribes 
enlisted against Germans by the House of Austria, or even to the 
French, under the rule of a sagacious churchman. Nor did these 
atrocities terminate with the monster — the Thirty Year's War — 
which gave them birth. They continued to be tolentted as long 
as the commanders, who first permitted and their pupils survived. 
Reversing the order of consideration, to any student of history 
it will be sufficient to name a few atrocities, which character- 
ize their authors, or those who are resi)onsible for them. The 
ravage of the Palatinate, in 1674 (repeated in 1693 by his ajjt 
scholar, Melac), was the work of Turenne. He converted 
the most fertile district of Germany into a desert. This was 
foreign land to France, on the eastern bank of the Rhine, and he 
coolly justified it on the plea of military expediency. The author 
of "The Army of the Potomac" dared to couple, in the .same 
sentence, Turenne's fiendish desolation of the Palatinate with 
Sheridan's justifiable destruction in the Shenandoah Valley. Ig- 
norance can be the only excuse. The action of the LTnion gene- 
ral, as compared to that of the French marshal, was as the burning 
of a storehouse to the conflagration of a building filled with help- 
less innocents. Nor was the cold-blooded Turenne contented 
with the woe wrought to a foreign enemy. Had he not been 
overruled by superior authority, his plan was to lay waste the ter- 
ritory on the French side of the Rhine, that, in case of invasion, 
it would afford neither shelter nor subsistence to a military force. 
'I'o justify the parallel, Sheridan must have destroyed every town 
and village in the blooming valley south of the Potomac, have 
driven the inhabitants into the fields to die of cold and starva- 



46 

tion, and have left utter desolation behind him, and then have 
retired into Maryland, with the desire and the will to convert its 
flourishing uplands and teeming lowlands into the same lament- 
able condition to which he had consigned the opposite shore. 
Notwithstanding, Turenne has been held up as a model of virtue. 

The Sack of Magdeburg, 1631, which transmuted a flourishing 
and happy city into a heap ftf ruins and cinders, soaked with blood 
and piled with corpses, rests upon the soul of Tilly, who made it 
his boast that no such desolation had occurred since the fall of 
Troy. 

The '■' Pasewalk and Penkum Slaughter," a pandemonium 
of pillage, violation, murder and indecency, was the vaunted ex- 
ploit of (ioetz, another Imperial commander, and to go on and 
cite the various woes accumulated upon Germans by Germans, 
would fill a volume with horrors and would prove acceptable les- 
sons of cruelty to the Indians of the West. No Comanche or 
Arrapahoe, no Sioux, ever imagined greater refinement or malig- 
nity in the infliction of suffering. In the Sack of Piseck, in 1620, 
by the Austrian Cossacks, the town was swept as clean as that of 
Beziers, in 1208. Friend and foe fared alike and a populous 
town became a reeking shambles; the last act after the perpetra- 
tion of crimes against property and virtue. In many instances 
human beings were slaughtered for food, comrades fed on 
comrades, neighbors on neighbors, and even the graves were 
robbed of their dead to prolong existence in the living. Nor 
did the judges, with their scaffolds and their instruments of torture, 
display less energy than the Imperial commanders and their 
soldiers. Amid this scene of universal and diabolical oppression, 
as regarded Middle Europe, a succession of heroes commanded 
the Swedish armies, who, as scientific generals, have never been 
surpassed, if ever they have been equalled. Taken together, 
the god-like Gustavus, the truly virtuous Horn, the chivalric 
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, Baner, " the second Gustavus," until 
the Saxon Elector's treachery overthrew his equanimity, and the 
"inimitable Torstenson," the last, "under Sweden's crown, Sweden's 
greatest commander," in their joint career of victory, they have never 
been approached, when results, as contrasted with means, are 
taken into the calculation and considered in the parallel between 
them and other commanders. They made genius compensate for 
inferiority of numbers and the resources of their minds discov- 
ered means of supply for their own troops in the midst of an ut- 
terly impoverished country, in which more than one army opposed 
to them i)erished utterly from the face of the earth, and every 
antagonist saw his forces depleted by nakedness and famine, con- 
sequent indiscipline and multiform disease, inseparable from such 



47 

conditions.* Compared to Turenne, to Tilly and his coadjutors, 
to Wallenstein's lieutenants, often to VVallenstein himself, to Buc- * 
quoy, r)ami)ierre, Goetz, Hoik, Melander in Hesse, and a score 
of others, these tive Swedish leatlers were angels. As a model 
of a Christian commander-in-chief, (lustavus is an example for 
all time. In the sanctity of his character it is scarcely possible to 
find his parallel in the records of war. Nor did his favorite pu- 
pil, 'roKSTENsoN, fall far short of him in god-like virtues. Cen. 
von Hardegg justly remarks: " Torstenson possessed, in addi- 
tion to his great talents as a soldier and a statesman [general, 
executive and administrator, civil and military, diplomatist, scien- 
tist, connoisseur, &c.] a highly cultivated mind, an exquisite 
heart and a lofty sense of honor. In courage, in spirit of enter- 
prise and perseverance, he towered, in spite of his body shattered 
by diseases, above all his associates of ecjual rank. He not only 
understood how to establish and maintain discipline, but to put 
an end to the barbarities ot the soldiery and absolutely make them 
humane." To this, Hormayer, the Austrian historiograi)her, 
atlds, and Feil, as seen page 28 supra, corroborates, that even 
when thundering at the gates of Vienna, after Janikau, Torsten- 
son's " chivalric greatness of soul" (ritterliche Kdelmuth), so won 
for him the esteem of the En)peror, Ferdinand III., that it was 
acknowledged by elegant courtesies (5n the part of the sovereign 
whose armies had just been routed, and whose capital was being 
insulted with cannon shot. Ferdinand even permitted Torsten- 
son to send officers into Vienna to purchase whatsoever might be 
agreeable to his wife, Beata de la Gardie, who accompanied her 

*Tlie more a critic, competent to judge, investigates the career of 
McClellan and his immediate following or favorites and successors, and 
compares tlieir chances and conduct witli tliose of such men as Torsten- 
son, the more convinced he will l)ecome tliat, in resjiect to tlie dischari^e 
of liigli offices Willi wliirli tlie leader and liis friends were invested, ail 
were, in degree, more or less utter failures. Without imputing motives or 
considering (;auscs, tliey accomplished so little wUli tlic means at tlicii- dis- 
posal that it would be dillicuU to find a parallel to sueh shortcomings, in- 
volving the inthiencf.' of nu-n of military education and e.xpcrience upon 
national elforts, in trustworthy records of the operations of war. Thi.s 
opinion may be allribuled to prejudice and to political bias, but does not 
come from these. It is the result of solemn »;onvicti()n,after a long course 
of stiidy tinoughout more than an orilinary lifetime, deep relied ion and a 
careful comparison with the acts of living and dead generals in high com 
mands, at home and abroad, for a i)erio(l of aiiont three hundred years ; 
liiat is, since the military renai.ssance, or the (leveloi)ment of modern 
war. Even wlien tiied i)y the touchstone of the deeds done by the ruth- 
less chiefs of Xai>olcon, the narrative of lh(^ caicers under consideiation 
re.seml)les rather the rambling designs developed by the smoke of lamps 
or torches, in the hands of explorers, upon the roof of a cavern, than 
the effects of the suidight awakening and developing beauty and life. 



48 

husband in all his later campaigns, was present in the battles he 
delivered, and at Janikau was captured by the Bavarians under 
the renowned trooper Werth, and actually recaptured through a 
charge led by her heroic crippled husband. 

Perhaps, considering the interval of seven years, between their 
supreme commands, which offered more than ample time for utter 
deterioration, Torstenson rose to an equal, if not an even more re- 
markable grandeur of soul, than his master. Gustavus led into the 
empire an army composed almost entirely of his native Swedes, and 
of Scotch and English formed under his own eye— religiously edu- 
cated, thoroughly disciplined, God-fearing men. Torstenson re- 
ceived control of an army, demoralized by eight years of dia- 
bolical warfare — mutinous men, commanded, too often, by mu- 
tinous, if not traitorous, officers, and yet his dignity, his influence, 
his " lion-hearted " royalty of demeanor and of mind, his fearless 
assumption of every possible responsibility, his energy, enabled 
him to convert that disorganized mass into a perfect machine, 
and deprived war of the greater part of its terrors as regarded 
non-combatants. 

Only one act inconsistent with his character blemishes the 
record of his otherwise stainless career, and even this one rests upon 
only a single authority, equivalent to a paragraph in an illustrated 
newspaper, which originated, perhaps, in the spite of an army corres- 
pondent who had not been treated with the deference he expected 
or demanded. 

The wonderful improvements and executive application of 
modern artillery, attributed to Gustavus, is more than probably 
due, in its organized efficiency, to Torstenson. At all events, he 
so well knew how to dispose of it along his front of battle, that, 
when the crudest diseases which flesh is heir to compelled him 
to lay down his command, the enemy rejoiced, hoping that the 
Swedish cannon, which had so often " compelled victory," were 
now silenced, and calculated his withdrawal as equivalent to the 
diminution of his army by the loss of at least ten thousand men, 
equal to a modern army corps, or, as estimated at the period in 
which he shone, to an army, In his combination of tactics and 
gunnery he contributed as much as his master to the winning of 
the decisive victory of Leipzig, in 1631, and in his union of 
engineering and artillery he is credited with a feat, the bridging 
of the Lech, in 1632, the success of which was entirely owing to 
his consummate handling of his guns, when field artillery was in 
its infancy. In this he has left a model which may be imitated, 
but cannot be surpassed. 

As a commander of cavalry, Torstenson — a victim to gravel 
and to gout, so excruciating that he had to be carried, as a rule, 



r»LA^]srs 



HlNE OP THE GQOST IMPOI^IITANIP AND DECISIVE 

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4 AaHI gfOW I'll 6 Marz 1645 \ 







AND OF 

TI^IE OI<rE 3S<(IOST F-A-IvTOXJS SIEG-E 

OF THE 

THIRTY YEARS WAR, 



HRHQ— i«4« 



4!» 

with his troops in a Utter — performed one exploit, which, if he had 
never achieved another, would place him in the same rank with 
Frederick's Seydlitz and Ziethen, and as far ahead of Murat as 
our Sheridan towers above ordinary pretenders to the power of 
handhng large bodies of horse. On the occasion alluded to, he 
had out-manoeuvred General Gallas, intrusted with superior forces 
for his destruction, forced him, simply by the judicious selection 
of commanding positions, as 'I'urenne admitted with admiration 
and astonisliment, to evacuate one strong post after another, and 
finally shut him uj) in the fortress of Magdeburg. It soon be- 
came a (juestion of escape or starvation, and one midnight, 21st 
November, 1644, the Saxo-Imperial cavalry broke out, got a good 
start and were ofif. Advised of the movement by his scouts, Tor- 
stenson gathered up his own horse, launched forth in pursuit, and 
by a circuitous route, through Wittenberg, intercepted them at 
the village of Niemeck, near (N. W. of) Juterbock, where, on the 
23d, he fell upon them, crushed them, and captured the greater 
part (over four thousand men), together with General Enkefort 
and several colonels, nor would even the smallest remnant have 
escaped, had not the Swedish cavalry horses been completely ex- 
hausted, having made fifteen (German (over sixty, [)erhaps seventy- 
five English) miles on " one fodder " — a single feed. 

As a general on tiie field ot action, his victories were annihi- 
lating. That at Hreitenfeld, in 1642, and that of Janikau. in 
1645, were more like the Nashville of Thomas, in 1864, than 
any other battle of our civil war. In both cases an army was 
eliminated from the war problem by simple practical-strategy. 
Without a single engagement he rubbed out another army in 
1644. In his whole career as generalissimo he made but one 
failure, the siege of Brunn, and that was not due to any short- 
coming on his part, but to the treason of his ally, Racogzy, 
Prince of Transylvania, and to pestilence imjjorted with the lat- 
tcr's barbarous hordes * Had this place fallen, the fate of Austria 

*Mii.iTAUV DiSKASiis. — The most loniblo enemy to troops in cluinging 
(|uarters lor tlie field, is disease in dillerent forms, conse([iient upon a 
nuilalion of mode of Mfe, rain or snow, cold, different forms of nourisii- 
meiil, unaccuslomed fatigue, deprivation of sleep, &c. The lliinl of the 
eileclive troops i)erisli in eousetpience. 

"The King of I'nissia lost in the campaign of 1778 more men by 
sickness and desertion tiian in liiree years of campaigns of tiie i)reco(Ung 
Seven Years' War. Dysentery carried of the pick of ids soldiers (10,000 
il is said). Thi' cause of tins malady must he attiil)nt<'d to the bad footl 
and severe weather to wlneii the Prussian armies were sid)jeeted in 
Hohenda. Il is curious tiiat the Freneli on board tlie srjuadron of 
D'Ovillers experienced the saine tUsastrous results. "Torsten.son before 
Brunn, Ibid., p. iv. 15, 20, note 42, 44, x.xxvii., soldiers' perception, 74, 



50 

would have been settled. Austrian authors concede this. The 
failure was due to the base desertion of an allied contingent ; to 
the over-indulgence of his own troops in unripe fruit, and con- 
tinued wet weather in a malarious country at the worst season 
of the year. So fatal had been the malaria that he lost thou- 
sands of veterans, the kernel or kidney of the wheat, of the vic- 
torious survivors of Janikau, and it is stated that two regiments 
disappeared from the muster-rolls of his army, " cut oft', not 
almost, but to a single man." As an administrator, as a commis- 
sary, as a quartermaster, and in every branch of Logistics, which 
is the comprehensive art of moving and supplying armies, his 
success was an enigma to the writers of his own day and is 
one of the incomprehensible marvels which still puzzle the acu- 
test military critics. The Prince de Ligne, in his " Commenta- 
ries, "admits the fact. His were the principles of Gustavus Adolphus, 
as well as of Frederic the Great, that war must be made to sustain 
war, as they had been those of Hannibal, of Philip of Macedon, 
of Augustus the first. Emperor of Rome, and of Napoleon 
Bonaparte. 

He fed his men and his horses in the midst of districts swept far 
and wide by the besom of destruction, and he moved his armies over 
roads declared impracticable, and his trains and artillery over 
routes never before traversed by any kind of vehicle. Unequalled 
in his plan of operations, he could do what neither Frederic nor 
Napoleon ever did accomplish successfully. In his sick cham- 
ber he planned out campaigns which his successors had only to 
follow to succeed. What Halleck dreamed he was equal to, and 
utterly failed in doing, with the aid of steamboats, railroads and 
electric telegraphs, Torstenson accomplished through his single and 
simple genius. What von Moltke, with all the appliances of every 
modern science, executed in 1866 and 1 870-1, for the humilia- 
tion of Austria and France, Torstenson carried out, 164 5-1648, 
through couriers and post-horses. " Inimitable" as a general, and 
especially in the handling of troops, this invalid, who scarcely knew 
a respite from pain, who besought his government, as the greatest 
boon they could accord him, to relieve him from his command 
and send him a successor, this martyr to disease, surpassed every 
general, before or since, in the rapidity of his marches. His sol- 
diers styled him " the Lightning," and history has united the epi- 
thet inseparably with his name. Like an eagle, crowned with 
victory, bearing thunderbolts in his talons and destruction in his 
beak, he flew from one extremity of Middle Europe to the other. 



note 9, An anonymous Prussijin Work, styled "Grand Tactics, particu- 
larly a Narrative of the Campaign of 1778 in Bohemia." Potsdam, 1780. 



51 

now int-nacing Vienna, then threatening Copenliagen, and, then 
again, shaking the Imperial capital with the explosions of his ar- 
tillery. He realizeil Pope's ijromises — in reality Stanton's ex- 
pression — to '' make his heachiuarters in the saddle." His head- 
(juarters were either there or in his litter. He ignored bases of 
supply antl lines of communication ; he moved free over the 
country, as a bird of i)rey through the air, stooping to the " ban- 
(piet ot swords," as the " serpent destroyer," of South Africa, 
upon the most venomous rei)tiles, to slay, to rend, and to enjoy. 
He lived off the country, he inaugurated the system, according 
to an organized system (attributed erroneously to Napoleon), of 
making war supply war. He took by force what he needed, and 
yet he never lost the love of the peojile from whom he was forced 
to take, for he tempered judgment with mercy, and severity with 
the benignity of a power that chastises to preserve. He rolled 
his war-cloud ui^n the ioe ; his thunder terrified, his lightning 
scathed, and his winds scattered, and then he assembled his army 
" in battaglia " and rendered to the God of battles the thank.s- 
giving which he felt were due to Him for triumphs accorded and 
for blessings vouchsafed. 

His march of five hundred miles across Germany, at the 
worst season of the year, in the autumn of 1643, was an under- 
taking, in comparison to which Sherman's march from Atlanta to 
the sea might be ;;et down as a peaceful pedestrian tour or a 
grand picnic. In this he developed, if he did not originate the 
idea, of" mounted infantry," for he swept the country of its horses, 
to transport his foot with thecelerity of cavalry. His present of con- 
cpiered continental Denmark to his crown, as a New Year's offer- 
ing, was as superior to the Christmas gift of Savannah to our 
nation, as Sherman's preceding movements in Georgia and suc- 
ceeding operations in the Carolinas were as inferior to'l'orstenson's 
wingetl expeditions from Moravia to the Ore Sound, and thence 
back, through regular aimies of outnumbering forces, from the 
Kider across the Ore Mountains to the Danube. Neither Gus- 
tavus, nor Frederic, nor Bonaparte, accom])lished anything like 
e(|ual results with the legs of their sol.diers. and as to the use of 
their arms, lireitenfeld can compare with the Leipsic of Gustavus; 
Janikau with any victory of Frederic, even Rossbach or Leuthen 
(Lissa), marvels considered by experts as without parallels; Witt- 
stock with Austerlitz or Jena. Finally, Bbnaparte's passage of 
the Alps, at the finest season of the year, with every ailvantage 
derivable from means and their scientific application, unresisted, 
is not worthy to be named in the same sentence with Torsten- 
son's transit over the Ore Mountains, under difficulties incalcu- 
lably greater, at the rudest season of the year, w hen the valleys 



52 

were filled, and the mountains covered with the snows of winter, 
when the impetuous torrents and rivers, too swift for the cold to 
curb or to chain their impetuous currents, rolled, freighted witli 
fields and blocks of ice. Thus the Swedes, cut off from base, allies 
and succor, had to conquer nature in her wildest form, and enemies 
on every side, as they flew to a victory as important as Marengo, 
in order to relieve their Genoa (Olmutz) which they succeeded in 
doing, and Napoleon did not. 

Torstenson, in addition to his military superiority, was a 
friend and patron of the arts and sciences, and his ability as a 
diplomatist, statesman and civil executive, was in no measure be- 
hind that generalship which made all Germany as open to him, 
as if it had been his ample field for manoeuvre. He made every 
Elector, working in with the Imperial interest, the Empire, Aus- 
tria, and its capital, Vienna, tremble. Had his ally, Racogzy, 
been trustworthy Vienna must have fallen, and witnessed in. the 
XVHth century the triumphal possession of a Swede, as in the 
the XlXth the victorious entry of the Corsican. He .humbled 
the king of Denmark, before his day the rival of Sweden; he 
made Poland crouch, he avenged Gustavus, he disarmed two 
Electors, of Saxony and of Brandenburg, and converted them 
from more or less bitter enemies into paralyzed neutrals if not 
absolute friends, and, i?i suiiiina, he filled the measure of Swedish 
glory (i). 

A few anecdotes, selected at large from his biography, will 
illustrate the character of Torstenson better than the panegyrics 
which seek to glorify the everyday incidents in the lives of some 
prominent individuals deemed exceedingly great by the more or 
less ignorant and prejudiced world at large. 

Voltaire remarked that, " in all Europe, he (Conde or d'En- 
ghien) and the Swede Torstenson alone, possessed at the age of 
twenty years that genius which could well ])ass for matured expe- 
rience." This corroborates the opinion of the celebrated Swedish 
historian, Puffendorf, " He (Gustavus Adolphus), Conde and his 
own disciple, Torstenson, were the only three generals who, at 
twenty years of age, showed to the (European) public all the 
effects of long experience." Octavius Csesar was another. 

Macaulay, in two of his brilliant essays, alludes to " great 
captains whose precocious and self-taught military skill resembled 
intuition." He then citfes Conde, Clive and Napoleon as exam- 
ples. With all his ability and marvellous memory Macaulay was 
evidently ignorant of military history, in that he omitted several 
more striking examples — Plannibal, Gustavus Adolphus and Tor- 
stenson, and the list might be greatly extended. In his essay 
on Clive, he shows much more knowledge of the subject. 



63 

• 

" Nor must we forget that he (Clive) was only twenty-five 
years ohl when he approved himself rii)e for military command. 
This is a rare, if not a singular distinction. [Not so.J It is true 
that Alexander, Conde and Charles XII. won great battles at a 
still earlier age ; l^but these princes were surrounded by vete- 
ran generals of distinguished skill, to whose suggestions^j 
must be attributed the victories of the Granicus, of Rocroi and of 
Narva. Clive, an inexperienced youth, had yet more experience 
than any of those who served under him. He had to form him- 
self, to form his officers and to form his army. The only man, 
as far as we recollect [modestj, who, at an ecjually early age, ever 
gave e(iual proof of talents for war, was Napoleon Bonaparte." 
In the sentence in which he justly ascribes the victories of 
Alexander. Conde and Ciiarles XII. to the experienced officers 
by whom they were surrounded, he exactly hits the mark, and it 
is still more pertinent to the case of Napoleon, who, through a 
great error— showing how little he knew of the subject under 
consideration — Macaulay makes an exception, whereas he was 
an example of the rule cited. If ever a man owed his suc- 
cess to an army which he did not make, and to lieutenants who 
rose as quickly as he did, it was Napoleon. In the case ot 
Conde, Rocroi was due to Gassion and to Sirot, who had been 
formed in the school of Gustavus. To institute a comparison 
between Clive and Torstenson is just. Both were necessities of 
the moment and the occasion. Both were indispensabilities. 
Before he was eighteen Torstenson had given ample proof that 
he had the most comprehensive idea of generalship ; at twenty- 
two or three he had saved a decisive battle— just about the age 
at which Clive had approved himself ripe for military command; " 
at twenty-seven he was at the head of the Swedish artillery and 
already famous; and at twenty-nine, while a prisoner, Gustavus 
had urged uponOxenstiern his ransom at any])rice, "as the man 
fit to command the whole, or any army." Again, when Baner 
died, he bequeathed his army, the sole hope and stay of Sweden, 
to the bed-ridden cripple, Torstenson, as the only man comi)e- 
tent to command it; and that cripple rose from his couch of 
agony as the sole individual capable of making the end of the 
Thirty Years' War a certain success for his country. All the i)re- 
cocious generals, so credited, from Lucullus down to the Crown 
Prince of Prussia, in 1870, were drv-nursed; Torstenson drv- 
nursed his nurses. 

Torstenson's exhibition of instinctive military perception must 
have occurred during or prior to the Riga campaign, in August- 
September, 1 62 1, and niiiv have happe'ned [although it is* not 
likely] in one of the Russian wars ended by the Peace of ^tol- 



54 

bova (Stolba), 27th February, 1617. Torstenson was born 17th 
August, 1603 ; in 1 6 18 he became the king's page, or " Squire of 
the Chamber; in 1621 he was the king's armor-bearer, a position 
of the highest trust; in 162 1, when he came of age, he was 
girded with a sword, according to the old Swedish custom, on 
attaining majority worthily; and in 1625 he was cornet and the 
standard or battle-flag of the royal mounted body-guard was 
entrusted to him, to which reference will be made in quoting the 
enthusiastic praise of Gustavus III. before the Royal Swedish 
Academy. In 1630, when his king invaded Germany, such was 
his celebrity and capacity, he was already, at 27, according to 
Puffendorf, Grand-Master of the Artillery, and at once, in the 
Swedish army, made it the arm which it has since become in all 
the military organizations of the world. 

A more recent Swedish historian, Fryxell, in his " Gustavus; 
Prepared for the Instruction of Youth," presents the anecdote re- 
ferred to, thus : During an engagement in this Riga campaign 
1621, the king dispatched him [Torstenson, his page, acting as 
aidej with verbal orders to one of his colonels, an ofticer, even 
now, in Europe, enjoying a higher command than one of our 
brigadiers, and 250 years ago holding a still more important rela- 
tive position, for colonels were sometimes selected to command, 
not only generals, but armies. As Torstenson rode along he 
discovered that the enemy had made a change in his dispositions, 
and that the movement prescribed by the orders he bore would be 
dangerous to the Swedish troops affected by it. Accordingly, in- 
stead of delivering the king's order, he substituted directions of 
his own in the king's name. When, on his return, he reported to 
the king, Gustavus bade him ride swiftly back again with new 
orders based on the enemy's change of position, and charged him 
with directions exactly equivalent to those which Torstenson him- 
self had given on his own responsibility. Torstenson thereui)on 
begged pardon, and confessed what he had done. Gustavus 
looked on him and said, smiling, " Torstenson, you are better 
fitted for a commander than for a page." According to Schiller, 
Gustavus menaced him with his hand, with these words, " Tor- 
stenson, that might have cost you your life; but I see in you a 
good general." That night he was commanded to sit at the 
king's side at the supper table and from that hour he enjoyed the 
king's friendship and particular attention. 

In spite of all the enthusiasm of Swedish writers in favor of 
the performances of their troops on the field of Wallhofif, made 
famous by the fact that there modern infantry first really asserted 
itself and its inherent strength against excellent cavalry, it would 
appear that, after all, it was not the easy victory claimed; and 



.)0 

the Swedish horsemen were disordered and liad to be ralHed by 
the young hero, Torstenson. If such had not been the case, is it 
probal)le (lustavus III., in his" Royal Utterance," his " Eulogy of 
Torstenson," would have exclaimed. '■'■Fields of Wallhoffl you 
can bear testimony to Torstenson's valor! The enemy driven 
off, the soldiery once more ^^^athered around the Lije-Banner, victory 
given to Ciustavus Adolphus. All indications of what Torstenson 
some day will be. His perspicacity, his valor, lead him soon to 
the chief command. * * Torstenson returns to his na- 
tive land, where he has scarcely arrived, when Gustavus Adol- 
phus entrusts him with the chief command of the artillery. A 
larger field opens up to the hero ; a field on which the eyes of 
contemporaries- and of posterity will be fixed." 

Scrutinize the conception, inception and connection of all his 
battles. They are masterpieces. How superlative his grand tac- 
tics at Leipsic, 1642 (2), his manceuvres to give himself full room 
and entice his adversaries into an arena from which there was no 
escape, except-as ruined fugitives. Is it strange that the medal 
struck in honor of this victory bore the inscription, " // is believed, 
Leipsic, that now thou knowcst the courai^e of Torstenson." With 
what acuteness he beguiled the crafty Gallas, who was too cun- 
ning even for the astute Wallenstein, and with what strategem 
and strategy he gradually rubbed out the Imjierial forces sent 
under that general to trap or crush him in Holstein, in 1644; 
with what energy and celerity he pursued the Saxon cavalry and 
captured or utterly destroyed it at Niemeck (3). The cold-blooded 
Turenne flames up, for the nonce, into admiration and applause. 
Then at Janikau (4), wliat consummate i)erception of the character 
of his adversaries and of the ground. That was a battle ! He 
saw the key-point as a sempstress the eye of her needle, and 
drew through the thread, doubled and knotted it and sewed u]) 
the allies, in s|)ite of the supernatural aid promised the Kaiser in 
a dream. This battle was a perfect example of the proper appli- 
cation of the Three Arms combined. 

Moreover, he never broke his word, and better, he never 
parleyed when he intended destruction ; with him there was no 
cruel keeping the promise to the ear and breaking it to the hope. 
It was Ein Mann — ein Wort (" One man, one word "). Sir James 
Turner, Knight, in his " Pallas Armata," Chap. XXVI., observes, 
" if accidentally a Garrison have provoked the Besieger to revenge, 
it will be more gallantly done to refuse all Parley, discharge all 
Quarter; anil in the fury [of assault] put all to the Sword, than to 
kill them in cold blood ; yet it is frecjuently done. But Tor- 
siENS(W, tlie Swedish Felt- Marshal, did crxeroi'slv, u<hen [in 
1 644 J he resolved to put a Danish garrison of Goo men to the Sword, 



56 

who were in a sconce of the Duchy of Holstein, ]ie refused all 
Parley or Treaty, and in the Storm killed them, every man." 

Torstenson has often been styled " the modern Hannibal," 
and, as the unequalled Carthaginian fought and labored and 
diplomatised to detach from Rome the Socii or Allies, which had 
been conquered by the Romans, and attach them to himself, 
Torstenson campaigned and strove to separate from the Imperial 
cause the princes and the states which had been won over or ca- 
joled by the emperor — who in 1618-48 represented Rome — and 
convert them into allies of the Swedes. Hannibal, in spite of six- 
teen glorious campaigns and three transcendent victories, failed at 
last; Torstenson, in less than four campaigns, through three aston- 
ishing triumphs on the battlefield, accomplished what he under- 
took to do and first laid the sure basis of the peace he lived to 
see concluded with such glory to his country. 

His simple, unexpected advent more than once struck terror 
into his adversaries. Witness, for example : In 1642, the Impe- 
rialists had regained the control in Silesia — a province always a 
bone of contention until Prussia gulped it down for good — and 
satisfied their gratuitous cruelty. Piccolomini, that wretch, al- 
though a sufficiently good soldier to become a necessity to the 
Imperial and Roman Catholic party, was besieging Glogau and 
the place was reduced to the greatest extremity. Torstenson had 
been so weak that he had to bide his time. " No sooner, how- 
ever, had [Charles GustavusJ Wrangel arrived with reinforcements 
from Sweden" ["the junction with the vanguard of Wrangel's 
corps took place 26th August " ], than Torstemou sudde>ily [7th 
September] appearing in sight of the Austrian camp, created such 
an alarm, that, forsaking their standards, the soldiers fled to the 
neighboring hills with disgraceful precipitation^ 

In the summer of 1643 an incident occurred that makes an 
American regret that we had not had a Torstenson in command 
of our armies during our great Civil War ; a generalissimo such 
as he, to deal with generals, who, allowed to interpret orders for 
themselves, or act, through bias, for a particular chief or ring, or 
to disobey, or permitted themselves to be gobbled, or their quar- 
ters beaten up by surprise, or their commands scattered or cap- 
tured through their negligence. 

The circumstances now to be related afford a better idea of 
Torstenson's line of judgment than even more important opera- 
tions. Three Swedish regiments of horse, under Colonels Dobitz 
and Werner, and Lieut.-Colonel Dobitz, or Dubald, had been 
sent out to collect contributions. They halted for the night (28th 
July, 1643) at Tribau, in Northern Moravia. Betrayed by a 
peasant named Schulmann, they were surprised, under favor of 



57 

# 

extreme darkness, by two troops of Imperial horse, and com- 
pletely disorganized. All three colonels and a number of officers 
and privates were made prisoners. When Torstensou learned of 
this disgrace to his arms, he was supremely indignant and availed 
himself of the earliest opportunity to gel the captured individuals 
back into his hands. He would not consent to exchange Impe- 
rialist officers, his own captives, for them, deeming it too honor- 
able a method of treating their case. He bought titem hack with 
)iione\\ not considering iliciii worthy of being placed on the footing of 
an €(/ual exchange — since he tleemed them worthless, and no 
equivalent for good and brave officers. As soon as the three 
colonels were in his power he hung up Colonel Werner " incon- 
tmenter" and had Lieut. -Col. Dubald drummed out of his lines 
with the utmost ignominy. The third, Colonel Dobitz, appears 
to have been mortally wounded, and so escaped degradation. 
He spared Lieut.-Col. Dubald's life solely on condition that he 
never would let a single human being know that he had at any 
time held a commison under or in any way served the Swedish 
crown. Then, to show the enemy that this mishap was not due to 
him, nor to the rank and file, Torstenson himself led a Hying 
column into Silesia, in jjursuit of Count P>(P)uchheim, who had 
been sent thither with 1,500 troo[)ers. So ably was the movement 
planned that the Imi)eriaiists were in turn surprised and com- 
j)letely routed at Prerau, near Mostenitz. Of Buckheim's per- 
sonal suite or staff, two were captured ; likewise two of his horses 
and the Count got off with difliculty on a third charger. It did 
not do to trifle with Torstenson ! 

On the i8th April, 1651, Torstenson died, "and left a most 
excellent odour of his vertues everywhere, yea, even among his 
very Enemies themselves." His last words were spoken to his 
queen and sovereign. I41 the Royal Place of Tombs, in the 
Church of the Knights, near his leader, tutor, friend and king, 
witli the obsecpiies of a monarch, he was laid to rest, amid the 
thunder of the artillery he had made. There his body — racked 
by the severest pains — which had never known repose when duty 
summoned, at length found that rest denied in life, and he sleeps 
his long, last slee]), canopied by the trophies he had won. There, 
halved with his glory, he lies, surrounded by the great comman- 
ders and the statesmen he had surpa.ssed. A century and a quar- 
ter after his decease, when Custavus the Third, great king, brave 
soldier, able seaman, eloquent orator, astute statesman and grace- 
ful writer, founded the Swedish Academy, he proj)osed the Eulo- 
gy of Torstenson as the subject for one of the first jirizes for 
eloc|uence. Anonymously, the royal servant of the muses con- 
tended tor the prize, which was awarded to the unknown but 



58 

able competitor. This eulogy, published long afterwards among 
the works of Gustavus III., was found, after thirteen years' 
search, and forwarded to the writer of this biographical sketch. 
In the career of the hero, the accomplished speaker had a theme 
worthy his acknowledged ornate, but manly, style. If the Ameri- 
can reader thinks that the writer has drawn upon his imagination in 
picturing Leonard (or Lennart) Torstenson, he would find that 
Gustavus III., one hundred and twenty-five years after the hero 
disappeared from mortal eyes, proclaimed that he had fulfilled 
everything predicted of him by Gustavus Adolphus, recorded by 
Swedish historians a,nd testified by friend and foe, winning in life 
the love and reverence of the Swedish people, enshrining his 
memory in their hearts. 

Finally read the " Summing up of Torstenson," by Baron Philip 
von Chemnitz, in his history of these campaigns, said to have been 
supervised or even, in part, dictated, by the famous Chancellor 
Oxenstiern : " When it was manifest that for weeks together he 
was compelled to keep his bed and that his limbs were so racked 
with inexpressible pains that he could neither move hands nor 
feet and was unable either to mount his horse or maintain himself 
in his saddle, except with difiiculty ; and that he could not sign a 
letter, but had to leave even that duty to his trusted secretary ; 
nevertheless he had with such fortune and renown led the army 
and had won so many bloody pitched battles and glorious vic- 
tories over the enemy, had conquered so many cities, strong 
places and fortresses, and, in short, to sum up briefly, had so well 
sustained and held erect the most difficult, yea, the more than diffi- 
cult, the most extensive work on which tlie whole of Evangelical 
Christianity was dependent, then unwilling consent was given him 
to lay all this aside which he had performed to the greatest satisfac- 
tion of his Sovereign Queen, and to retwrn to his Fatherland. There 
he was received by Queen Christina with extraordinary testimo- 
nials of royal graciousness and soon after raised, in acknowledge- 
ment of his great and faithful service, to the rank of count and 
rewarded and enfeoffed with the countship of Ortala, the barony 
of Worestadh, besides other considerable domains. 

If the opinion of the philosopher Solon, that no one can be 
adjudged to be happy before his end is considered, be accepted 
as correct, it must be acknowledged that our hero has to be re- 
garded as unusually fortunate, since, to the last, he was held in 
the highest respect and aft'ection, for a reputation won by deeds 
and unflecked by a single or by the slightest spot, not only by the 
highest authorities, but by his sovereign and by his peers, or col- 
leagues, and by the councils and representatives of the Swedish 
realm, but by every one, noble or simple, of high or low condi- 



69 

• 

tion, until the end of his Hfe, in 1650, when he died, overcome by 
infirmities resulting from the tortures wliich gradually, with greater 
and greater violence, got the mastery of his forces. Alas, he was 
not indeed old in days, since he had not fulfilled his 48th year, 
yet in wisdom distinguished in the highest degree among 
men, the real grey hair among men, and a spoUess life full of vir- 
tues and renown, is, after the real old age, old in the great virtues 
or characteristics which constitute a real hero, and old in mighty 
illustrious deeds worthy of such a hero! 

Nor was the appearance of Torstenson unworthy of his deeds. 
He was one of the handsomest men of his time. Divest him of 
his military insignia and liis (ace might be drawn as the ty])e of 
manly amiability and resolution. Such, at first sight, it certainly 
would appear. Close study, however, would reveal the dignity 
and determination which characterized the man and invested him 
with that influence which rendered him as mighty as a king in his 
own innate regal power. His waving hair fell over a forehead 
beneath which shone eyes blazing with sagacity. At a time when 
all affected extravagance of dress, his own was simple, rich but 
serviceable. Gracious in countenance, graceful in mien and royal 
in manners, no wonder that he retained the respect and love of 
soldiers and citizens, native and foreign, of superiors, inferiors and 
even of the haughty, distant Turk, the bigot Austrian, the crafty 
Frank, the supple Saxon and the eccentric Queen Regent of 
Sweden. Such was the "inimitable Torstenson;" as a man, 
almost stainless ; as a subject, without reproach ; as a husband, 
a model; as a general, unsurpassed; competent in every arm 
and branch of the service; equal to any occasion; a consistent 
Christian, and, to sum up all, " an ornament to the human race." 



Notes. — ( i.) " But if the designs of Torstenson (according to 
Schiller [ever unable to forget he is a German and rise to impartial 
judgmentj 336) were not crowned with all the success which they 
l)romised at the connnencement, they were, nevertheless. j)roduc- 
live of the most important consequences to the Swedish party. 
Denmark had been compelled to a peace [Brandenburg to a con- 
vention]. Saxony to a truce, the emperor in the deliberations for 
a iieace offered greater concessions, France became more man- 
ageal)le and Sweden itself bolder and more confident in its bear- 
ing towards these two crowns. Having thus nobly i)erf()rme(l his 
duty the author of these advantages retired adorned (crowned) 
with laurels." 

(2.) Comparisons have been instituted between the Leipsic of 



60 

Gustavus and the Breitenfeld (or second Leipsic) of Torstenson, 
but the latter, as the Prussian critic justly observes, |^^" Fate 
denied to their [Baner and Torstenson's] illustrious monarch and 
preceptor such victories as Wittstock |in which lorstenson was 
second in command to BanerJ, Breitenfeld and Janikau. I^^Yea 
there were even single moments of their lives which surpassed all 
the successes achieved by Gustavus Adolphus;" and, again, 
Ic^at Janikau, " sometimes on horseback, sometimes in his lit- 
ter, the generahssimo was in every spot where the occasion ren- 
dered his presence requisite ; and thus |55^the last battle which 
he won was at the same time the finest of his life ; perhaps it is 
the finest of the whole Thirty Years' War.",^^| " We," adds the 
Prussian critic, "regret to say that it is one ot tliose battles [for 
the advancement of the science of war] which, up to the present 
date, have been least studied. "^^^| 

At the second Leipsic the Swedes occu[)ied almost the very 
position that the Imperialists did, eleven years i)revious, and if 
Tilly had displayed the superior capacity of Torstenson, especially 
in taking advantage of the ground, Gustavus, according to all 
mortal calculations, must have been defeated. What is more, the 
Swedes and Saxons, in 1631, united, were superior to their oppo- 
nents, whereas; in 1642, the Swedes were inferior in numbers. It 
may be argued in favor of Gustavus that the Saxons, as a body, 
were quickly run out, but unmilitary critics forget it takes iiine 
and exhausts strength even to slay and pursue, and, as distinguished 
generals declare, " time at crises cannot be purchased at hardly 
any too high a price." Moreover Tilly's troops pursued too far 
and lost inestimable time in plundering, as the Austrians and 
their allies, there, as often elsewhere, and as Prince Rupert did, 
more than once, to the ruin of tlie cause for which they were 
supposed to be giving their whole honest support. 

The imperial account concedes that in " quantity and quality " 
both armies were equal, but allows that the vSwedes were inferior 
in cavalry. The numbers given by Gindely, 20,000 Swedes and 
22,000 Imperialists, cannot be correct. Each general had about 
10,000 infantry, but the Imperialists must have had nearly double 
that number of cavalry. Accurate examinations arrive at the fol- 
lowing, as the circumstantial results : That, including artillery, 
Torstenson marshalled about 22,000 men, vvhich is 2,000 above 
Gindeley's estimate, and, calculating on die same basis, the Allies 
must have brought into the field between 37,000 and 38,000 
men. 

It is next to impossible to arrive at any trustworthy results in 
attempting to calculate the numerical force of the regiments, either 
of foot or of horse, they varied so gready. If, however, eleven 



imperial regiments of infantry comprised, according to their own 
admission, 10,000 men, this would give about 900 men to the 
regiment, which would be considerably under their full strength. 
Swedish infantry regiments, under Cnistavus, were not more than 
half as strong as the imperial ; but after his death the Swedes seem 
to have adopted, why, it is im})ossibIe to divine, the organization of 
the enemy, unless the latter required less tactical instruction than 
the former, and the Swedes could no longer command practiced 
soldiers adapted to the tactics of Gustavus. Consecpiently, ap- 
plying the same ratio to the cavalry as seems etjuitable from the 
known proportions of the infantry, the former were a little below 
half their full strength. The allies had 35 regiments of horse, 
besides 8 squadrons of Hungari:in, and 6 s(|uadrons of Croat, 
light cavajry. Some of the regiments were a great deal stronger 
than others, and one or two even more so. Averaging, however, 
if each regiment was a little below half its full or efieclive num- 
^^•"j^S would give, besides allowing at least 100 to each squadron 
of light cavalry, 17,500 men. 

Conceding the correctness of the imperial estimate, that the 
infiintry on both sides was about ecjual, the 1 1 Swedish would fur- 
nish, Hke the 11 imperial, 10,000 men. There were 22 regiments 
of Swedish horse, besides 3 small detachments about equal to 
another. Calculating again on the imperial basis that each regi- 
ment was less than half its full strength, 23 would give 11,500. 
This would make the Swedish army, assigning 500 for the service 
of the artillery, amount to 22,000 men, which is 2,000 over Gin- 
dely's estimate; but on the same basis the Allies must have had 
between 37,000 and 38,000 men, allowing them, as in the Swedisli 
case, 500 for the artillery ; all of which is very near the conclusion 
arrived at years ago, before the possession of data sufficient to 
enable anything like a correct calculation. There is a great deal 
of justification for the belief that the Allies were more than one- 
third stronger than the Swedes; but, although the former claimed 
an equality in " quality " as well as in " quantity," that is, numbers, 
it is more than j^robable that the quality was as far inferior to that 
of the Swedes, especially in the horse, as it was superior in quantity, 
particularly in mounted troops, as is conceded. 

The result of the battle decided the " Quality ;" for the Allies 
abandoned the field as runaways, leaving upon it, as confessed, 
about 5,000 dead and wounded, and 5,000 prisoners, beside the 
whole of their artillery train and baggage (including gold and sil- 
ver services), of every kind whatsoever, 'i'lie Swedish list of casual- 
ties nowhere ai)pears, but it is mentioned as " some hundreds." 
This is very likely, because during this terrible war, when 
cold steel decided the mailer, the pursuit of the defeated 



62 

amounted to a massacre to such an extent that escape depended 
entirely upon the speed of the horse. If the infantry did not 
throw down their arms there were no limits to the slaughter, ex- 
cepting the fatigue of the butchers, or the hopes of doing better 
than killing, by ransom or exchange. 

It is conceded by German writers that not one-third of the 
Allies ever came together again and others admit that this defeat 
cost the emperor 20,000 men, consequently the attributing of a 
superiority of one-third to the Allies will afford no basis for a 
charge of exaggeration. The imperial archduke and general looked 
upon his deteat as an almost indelible disgrace, since his vastly 
superior forces seem to have made him perfectly confident of vic- 
tory. 

(3.) It is a very remarkable thing that no history, however 
critical or detailed, of the Thirty Years' War, furnishes 'accurate 
returns of the force of the army by which the greatest actions 
were performed. Torstenson won all his successes against very 
great odds. A careful examination has been made and its results 
set forth as to the numbers opposed to each other at Breitenfeld, or 
Leipsic II., in 1642. In 1643, when Torstenson invaded Denmark, 
it is impossible that he could have had over 20,000 men, if near 
as many,since when he returned, in 1645,10 again invade Aifstria, 
proper, with all his enlistments and reinforcements, he could only 
muster 16,000 men for his decisive battle. To Torstenson were 
opposed, in 1644, not only all the available forces of continental 
Denmark, proper, but Gindely, writing at Prague, with all the 
facts before him, states that Gallas was sent to the assistance of 
the Danes with 22,000 men, by the orders of the Emj:)eror, to 
dispose of Torstenson forever. On his march northward he was 
reinforced by the divisions of Bruay and Colloredo, which to- 
gether must have exceeded 5,000 men, and he was finally rein- 
forced by r,ooo Danish horse and 3,500 foot. This makes 31,500 
men. Loccenius says that Gallas was reinforced by a contingent 
of 10,000 Danes, which would give the imperial commander 37,- 
000 men. With whatever force he did control, " all that Gallas 
accomplished was to do in eight days " — on the authority of 
Chemnitz — " more damage to those whom he came to assist than 
the Swedes, their enemies, had done to them in eight months." 
The Danes, reduced to 2,000, when Gallas, justly styled " the 
Destroyer of Armies," was forced by Torstenson again to quit 
Danish soil, abandoned him on their frontier and of his own army 
not more than from 1,000 to . 2,000, according to different 
accounts, ever got back to Bohemia, whence they started. Thus 
Torstenson, in 1642, destroyed two imperial armies at Schweidnitz 
and at Leipsic. In 1643 he raided Austria to the Danube, in spite 



03 

of all its armies. In 1644 he eliminated a third army; in 1645 a 
fourth ; and he would have captured Vienna but for the defection 
of an ally whom he had subsidized — an ally who sold his birth- 
right for a mess of pottage and infected the Swedish camp with 
the ])Iague that swept away thousands of the best veteran trooi)s. 
Nevertheless the imperialists never recovered the most important 
conquests whicli Torstcnson hail made and it is due to the victo- 
ries ot Torstenson that the negotiations which resulted in the 
Peace of Westphalia first, and only after them, concreted from 
Semblance into Substance. 

(4.) Torstenson's batde of Janikau, 1645; Kaufmann's battle 
at Makram, 1875; Sir Hugh Gough's Ferozesha, 1865; Fred- 
eric the Great's position at Hochkirch, 1759; ^""^ ^^^ analo- 
gous cases and remarks appropriate to them are api)licable to 
the Austrian position at Leuthen, 1758; Lee's position at Antie- 
tam, 1862 ; Meade's position at Gettysburg, and Lee's position at 
Williamsport, 1863; and in a lesser degree, but still similar, to 
David's victory in the Valley of Rephaim, B.C. 1048; Joab's 
triumph at Medeba, before Rabbah-Ammon B.C. 1037; at Tel- 
amone, B.C. 224; at Chalons, A.D. 451; on the Plains of Aiz- 
Nadin, A.D. 635 ; of Loudon, at Leignitz, 1760; of Ziethen, at 
Torgau, 1760; of Stonewall Jack.son, at Chancellorsville, 1863. 

"After this he (Skol)eleff) entered into some very frank criti- 
ci.sms of his own operations. Speaking of Maiuniiid, he said, ' I 
have never been able to understand that battle. Poor Burrows 
evidently had no concei)tion of fighting. He made the great 
mistake of charging Asiatic cavalry. I would never have done 
so. My maxim in uuirfare is this — always fight the ciieviy with a 
weapon in which he is deficient. If he has good cavalry, do not 
charge him with cavalry ; if his discipline is perfect, do not try 
to beat him in discipline. You have read my instructions to the 
officers before Geok Tepe. « * * Those instructions 
were framed with great care and contain my views on the sub- 
ject. The Asiatic has no idea of manoeuvring. Do you know 
the battle of I^Lakram ? That was a splendid batUe and redounds 
to the glory of Kaufmann. * * * Dq yo^ know 
that our operations at ^Likram were suggested by Sir Hugh 
Gough's battle at Ferozesha ? . * * * liriefly, the battle 
of Makram was as follows: The fort occupied a position on the 
banks of the Syr Daria, sufficiently close to a chain of mountains 
for the Khokandese to attempt to bar the Ru.ssian advance up 
the valley, by running out an earthwork towards it, armed with 
sixty-eight cannon, all pointed towards the invaders; and by 
continuing the line of defence to the foot of the hills themselves, 
by stationing in the intervening ground a huge mass of cavalry. 



64 

At the back of the fort, the settlement of Makram, with its nu- 
merous gardens, was held by infantry; the fort itself was armed 
with guns and the hills flanking the position were crowded with 
skirmishers. On the opposite side of the river, the position was 
rendered unapproachable by swamps. On coming in sighf of 
this barricade, held by 60,000 Khokandese, General Kaufmann 
reconnoitred the position with his staff. Although he had only a 
mere handful of troops, he decided to make an attack the next 
day, to prevent the enemy from overrunning the country.' Sko- 
beleff may as well relate, in his own words, what followed. 
' Having surveyed the position, he turned to his staff and said, 
"Who knows anything about the battle of Ferozesha ? " I had 
read all about it, but waited for the other officers to reply. No 
one knowing anything about it, I described the battle.' Here 
he drew a rough sketch of the Punjaub, and said, "As you know, 
Mr. Marvin, Sir Hugh Gough, the father of the General Gough 
in Afghanistan during the late war, pitched his camp alongside the 
enemy's at Ferozesha, without reconnoitering the ground ; and 
when they fired into it, he fought at once and lost several thou- 
sand men. I^^The next day he reconnoitred the position, and 
found a hill on the flank^ that enfiladed it. Marching thither, he 
inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy with a loss of only 
eighteen men.' |^"Turning again to the plan of Makram, he 
said : ' Thei-e was a hill on the left flank, at the rear of the KJio- 
kandese position, which corresjionded with that at Ferozesha. It 
is now called the Peak of Kaufmann. The next day we marched 
straight in that direction, keeping all the way on elevated ground 
alongside the mountains, until the enemy's position was out- 
flanked. Then we changed front ; turning our back upon the 
hills and our faces to Makram, and, marching straight towards it, 
swept the enemy right into the river. The river was quite black 
with heads. Twenty thousand Khokandese perished. I com- 
manded the cavalry that day. The account of Ferozesha I read 
originally in French, but more recently in English. Makram was 
a splendid laurel for Kaufmann.' Schuyler in his ' Turkistan,' 
gives an account of this battle, in which he erroneously ascribes 
the turning movement to the suggestion of General Golovatchefif, 
who carried out the Yomood massacre in Khiva, in 1873, two 
years earlier. * * * Makram was one of the most 

decisive battles fought by the Russians in Central Asia. It com- 
])letely crushed the Khokandese and put an end to all ideas of a 
Mussulman rising against Russia." — The Russian Advances To- 
wards India, pp. 106-110, by Charles Marvin. London, 1882. 



65 

(5). Page 62, Battle of Breitenfeld or Leipsic II. The list 
of prisoners captured by Torstenson at Leipsic, in 1642, shows 
how many unniilitary dependants were attached to the stafifs of 
generals, especially the Archduke Leo])old. Among these use- 
less mouths were two servants, charged with the care of the 
silver ])late (which silver utensils became the prey of the Swedes), 
one beadle attached to his chapel, one head-falconer, one ap- 
paritor or door-keeper, one flower-gardener, one usher, besides 
others of the same kind. In addition to the gold and silver table ser- 
vices, captured by the Swedes, the Archduke carried with him into 
the field many precious objects of art and ln,\ury ; among these a 
Madoiitia of great value, by Alhrecht Dukkr, which Torsten- 
son presented to his own wife, who, like the spouses of Baner, 
Mercy and other leaders of the time, followed her husband's for- 
tunes in the campaign and battle. This lady was captured, in 
1645, among the baggage trains in the fight of Janikau, by the 
celebrated Bavarian trooper, John von Werth, and released by a 
charge led by her gallant husband. 

In a review of the " Literature of the Thirty Years' War," 
endeavor was made to indicate the most trustworthy authorities. 
Since then a number have been received from Europe, of which 
by far the most valuable, because it carries within itself the testi- 
mony of its efforts at impartiality and access to documentary 
evidence, hitherto inaccessible, inestimable in arriving at con- 
clusions and determining judgments of men and matters under 
treatment. This work is the '■'■ Geschichte \ des \ deutschen Reiches 
I unter der Regierung Ferdinands ///., | ?iac/i handschrifilichen 
Qitellen, \ vofi M. Koc/i, \ viit Unterstutznngder Kaiserl. Akadetme 
der Wissenschaften." In 2 vols., 8vo., Wien, 1866. 

In Vol. I., pp. 364-368, Koch presents a very fair and clear 
narrative of the Battle of Breitenfeld, 2d November, 1642, and 
admits that the Austrians and Saxons had 16,000 cavalry and 
10,000 infantry to 10,000 Swedish horse and the same number of 
foot. He shows that the Archduke Leopold behaved with ex- 
ceeding courage. When everything seemed lost, like the veteran 
Roman consul, .4^hnilius Paullus, worthy a better fate, he dis- 
mounted from his horse and cast in his lot with the still resisting 
infantry. Two of his lieutenants, Puchheim and Borneval, had 
trouble to find him, seized him by the arms and dragged him out of 
the churm of battle by force. The Archduke was most grieved that 
he had not fallen among the glorious dead and sacrificed his life 
with them, especially the infantry, " the old, veteran, picked foot- 
soldiery, which millions in money could not rejjlace." Again, Vol. 
I., 475, he more than justifies the calculation of page 62 of this 
pamphlet, as to the force which Torstenson led into Holstein ; 



66 

5,000 infantry. 6,000 cavalry and three regiments of dragoons — a 
total of between 12,000 and 13,500 men, if as many. The con- 
clusion drawn, that Torstenson did not have over 20,000 was in- 
tended to include the flying corps of Konigsmark and all other 
partisans, who, while under the command of the great Swedish 
marshal-in-chief, were acting independently as to the immediate 
supervision of the generalissimo. Koch says (I., 480) that Gallas, 
including the divisions of Brouay and Colloredo, had 10,000 
infantry and 12,000 cavalry; but this estimate does not include 
the troops under Hatzfeld, who was opposing Konigsmark, nor 
the " vSr////(?////^?//;/d'"^( Danish Free-Corps or Sharpshooters) nor 
the Danish regulars which subsequently joined the Imperial com- 
mander ; neither the Saxon cavalry, with which, at a later date, 
Gallas was reinforced. 

It is curious in this connection to discover, amid many other 
instances, how history repeats itself The story goes that it was 
reported to Lincoln, after the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, 
that Grant was in the habit of getting drunk. The President, instead 
of taking umbrage, or being influenced against Grant on that ac- 
count, declared that, if he knew what particular kind of whiskey 
Grant used, even to the excess alleged, he would, if possible, pro- 
cure a big lot of the same stuff" and send a demijohn of it to every 
general in the service. In the same way as charged against 
Grant, the most able Baner is said to have been accustomed to 
get intoxicated and stay drunk for three or four days together. 
While in this condition, he maintained that he conceived his very 
best plans of operation. Koch (I., 270, 15) says that Gallas had 
just the same inordinate addiction to liquor, in common with the 
Swedish hero, but, instead of deriving inspiration from his indulg- 
ence, the little military ability which he possessed at other times en- 
tirely evaporated when he was in his cups. Thus the same bright 
ideas which, it was said (whether truly or falsely), were engendered 
in Baner and in Grant by wine or by whiskey, were never present 
with Gallas when in his potations ; to which he resorted if per- 
plexed, to such an extent, indeed, that when shut up in Magde- 
burg by Torstenson, he was accustomed to get drunk three times 
a day, to drown his worry in the oblivion of debauch. 

Koch is the only author examined who dares to bring any charge 
of want of humanity, in opposition to Feil, another Austrian (see 
pp. 27-28, supra), against Torstenson (II. 75-76). He says, that 
" when Torstenson could no longer continue the glorious career of 
his activity, it would appear that his failure before Brunn had a 
powerful influence upon him. He no longer exhibited the equa- 
nimity which until then had characterized him, and, according to a 
Swedish correspondent (Who ?) previously cited, he says ' he goes 



67 

about like a shadow on the wall,' and suffers on account of this 
failure [before Brunn], in his head, rather than in his feet, the 
severest torments of the gout. His previous customary urbanity 
and self-possession is changed into an indescribable impatience 
and fury. It is impossible to decide whether he is changed (un- 
just ascription) on account of the loss of his reputation before 
Brunn, or through having drawn upon himself for the same rea- 
son the disfavor of our Crown of Sweden." Koch does not give 
the name of this calumniator, who doubtless was someone smart- 
ing under some application of Torstenson's discipline, which, it is 
well known, struck high and low, whoever deserved it, alike. 
Old Hermann Wrangel might have written just such a letter. The 
answer to the whole i)aragraph is the fact that Torstenson was so 
crippled by the gout in his head and chest he had to seek perfect 
repo.se, but, as soon as better, he was supreme in the war-councils 
of his country and commander, if not in the field, through direc- 
tion. Moreover, honors flowed in upon him from queen and 
country and to an extent unsurpassed he held the affection and 
respect of sovereign, peers and the people. 

Conclusion. — Bildad, the Shuite (Job, viii. 8, lo, revised vers- 
ion), observes, " For encjuire, I pray thee, of the former age, and ap- 
ply thyself to that which their fiithers have searched out. Shall not 
they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?" 
Martin, the noted Walloon critic, furnishes the following para- 
phrase of these verses, which is very clear: "The events of the 
past shall they not serve for instruction." Bearing this in mind, 
although few lessons can be learned from the records of the 
Thirty Years' War applicable to this age of enormous armies — of 
nations under arms and in the field — of weight aud rapidity of 
fire, when each regiment is an enormous self-transportmg mit- 
trailleuse or Catling gun ; when the main question of supplying 
such vast aggregations of men and animals, tax the gigantic 
powers of steam machinery simply for their transportation ; 
nevertheless, the great, nay the greatest, lesson presents itself in 
every form and force — the effect of single minds upon men and 
events. Leaving aside campaigns, the battles of that war were won 
by superlative strategy or rather stratagem — throwing out acci- 
dents, which belong to another consideration — than by veteran 
valor. Macchiavelli was right when he declared, " Men, iron, 
money and food are the sinews of war;" but, however astute, he 
was wrong when he added that, " Men and iron are the most 
necessary, for men and iron find money, while money and food 
can find neither men nor iron." This assertion might seem 
true on the face, but reflection will show that it is not so. Gus- 
tavus had the best of troops and a more than sufficiency of iron. 



68 

Nevertheless the subsidies of France were indispensable to him 
before he could move to advantage. To acquire the knowledge 
of the secret governing springs of this, and, in fact, every war, 
makes the revelations of the literature of the Thirty Years' War 
so exceedingly valuable. As it was in the case of Gustavus so it 
was in that of Frederic the Great. To the latter the subsidies of 
England were as young blood in Prussia's depleted and impover- 
ished veins and the money-aid of the same opulent power acted 
as stimulating and sustaining food to coalition after coalition 
against the most recent Attila, Napoleon. Montecuculi, one of 
the most sagacious of experienced soldiers, when asked what was 
most necessary to the carrying on of war, answered " Money ! " 
and to a second question, " What next ? " replied, " More 
money ! " When pressed with a third inquiry, " What then ? " he 
responded, " Still more money ! " Satirical old Butler was right : 

" Money, th' only power. 
That all mankind bows down before." 

What makes the literature of the Thirty Years' War so inte- 
resting and valuable to those who hunger and thirst for the fruits 
of experience and the fountains of wisdom in the Past, for suste- 
nance, body and mind, in the Future, is the fullness of the feast 
to healthy digestion. Men were not more ignorant in any prac- 
tical line two hundred years ago than now and they were much 
better read in the Humanities, which contain perfect bonanzas 
now lost, it would appear, like some of the mines of Peru, only 
a short period since of apparently inexhaustible richness. If this 
literature teaches nothing else it confirms Polybius, " What in war 
is without an objective or fore-plan does not deserve the title of an 
[military] operation." However, as the same very great writer 
and philosopher admits, " Fortune is more powerful than the 
genius of great men," how necessary is it to learn that there have 
been men who seem to have been able even to control Fortune ; 
and how very superior must have been such a man as Torstenson, 
who, as Sporchil admits, " may be said to have subjected Fortune 
to his genius and experience ; " justifying the boast of Tamer- 
lane, "We have compelled Fortune herself to watch over the 
prosperity of our empire." Or, as Dryden reads, in his " Don 
Sebastian : " 

"/« all my wars, good Fortune flew before me; 
Sublime I sat in triumph on her wheel ! " 



(List 0/ Publications, continued front second page of ewer.) 

Articles publislied in United Service Magnzine (eiiiial in matter to 12010. volumes) : Torstenson and 
the Battle of Janikaii, July, 1879 ; Joshua and the I'attle of Beth-horon — Did the Sun and Moon 
stand still? February, i83o; Hannibal, July, 1880; Gustavu"? Adolphus, Sept., /880 ; Cavalry, 
I., Sept., 1880; Cavalry, II., Nov., 1880; Cavalry, III., Dec, 1880; Army Catastrophes — Dcstiuc- 
lion of Pharaoh and his host ; how accomplished, Ac, &c. February, 1881. — Hannibal's Army of 
Italy, Mar., 1881 ; Hannibal's Last Campaign, May, 1881 ; Infantry, I., June, i88i ; Infantry, H., 
Au),'., 1881 ; Battle of Eutaw Springs, 1781, Sept., 1881 ; Siege of Yorktown, 17O1, Nov. i88i ; 
Infantry, III, April, 1882; Waterloo, July, 1882; Vindication of James Hepburn, Earl of Both- 
well, Sept., 1882, Oct., 1882 ; From the Rapidan to Appomattox Court House, July, 1883.— Burgoyne's 
Campaign, J uly-Oct., 1777, and Appendix, Oct., 1883. — Life and Achievements of Field-Marshal Gene- 
ralissimo Suworrow, November-December, 1883. — Biographical Sketch of Maj.-Gen. Andrew Atkinson 
Humphreys, U. S. A., March 1884. — Address, Maj.-Gen. A. A. Humphreys, before the Third Army 
Corps Union, 5th May, 1884. Character and Services of Maj.-Gen. A. A. Humphreys, U. S. A., 
Manhattan, N. Y., Monthly Magazine, August, 1884. 

Suggestions which laid the basis for the present admirable Paid Fire Department in the City of New 
York, in which, as well as in the Organization of the present Municipal Police of New York 
City, Gen. de Peyster was a co-laborer with the Hon. Jas. W. Gerard, and G. W. Matsell, for 
which latter Department he caused to be prepared and presented a Fire Escape, a model of sim- 
plicity and inestimable utility. Republished in the New York Historical Magazine. Supple- 
ment, Vol. IX., 1865. John G. Shea, Editor and Proprietor. 

The Pearl of Pearls, or the "Wild Brunswicker" and his "Queen of Hearts :" a novel, founded on 
facts. 1865. — Mary Stuart : a Study. 1882 ; James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell : a Vindication, 
1882 ; Bothwell and Mary Stuart : an Enquiry and a Justification. 1883. — Bothwell, an Historical 
Drama, 1884. — The Life and Military Servces of Sir John Johnson, Bart. 1882. — Notices and Corre- 
spondence of Col. A. S. de Peyster and Brig.-Gen. Sir John Johnson, Bart., during and after the 
American Revolution, 1776, &c. 1884. 

State Sovereignty. 1861. — Life and Services of the great Russian Field-Marshal Suworrow. 1882. — 
T-^ Royale, the Grand Hunt [or Last Campaign o> the Army of the Potomac], Nos. I., II.. III., 
IV., v., VI., 1872 ; VII., 1873; VIII., 1S71.— Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Get- 
tysburg, in Onward, a monthly. 1869-70. — And Gettysburg and Williamsport, in the So/Jiers' 
Friend, a weekly, 1870. — Col. J. Watts de Peyster, Jr., U. S. V., A Threnody. 1874. — Sir John 
Johnson, Bart. : An Address delivered before the N. Y. Historical Society, 6th Jan., 1880, with 
two voluminous Appendices of Authorities. 

Centennial Sketches of the American Revolution, which appeared in the N. Y. Times, and especially in 
the N. Y. Evening Mail, and Mail tind Express. 1776-82. — Decisive Conflicts of the late Civil War 
or " Slaveholders' Rebellion :" I. Shiloh, Antietam, &c., 1867 ; II. Murfreesboro to Chattanooga, &.C., 
1866; III. Gettysburg, 1867; IV. Nashville, 1876. — Biographical notices of Major-Generals Philip 
Schuyler— Address delivered before the N. Y. Historical Society, ad Jan., 1877 ; Geo. H. Thomas, 
(likewise two Addresses delivered on the same subject before the N. Y. Historical Society, 5th Jan. 
1875, and Jan. 1876) ; also, of Bancroft, Burnside, Crawford, Heintzleman, Hooker, Humphreys, 
McAllister, Mahone, Meade, Edwards I'ierrepont, Pleasanton, Sickles, Tremaine, &c., &c. 

The B.Tttles of Monmouth and Capture of Stony Point : a series of voluminous and exhaustive articles 
published in the Monmouth Enquirer, N. J., 1879. — Eclaireur (The1, A Military Journal, Vols. 
II. and III., edited 1854-5. 

History of the Third Corps, Army of the Potomac, 1861-65. This title, although not technically, is vir- 
tually correct, for in a series of elaborate articles in dailies, weeklies, monthlies, monographs, ad- 
dresses, &c., everything relating to this Corps, even to smallest details, from 1861 to 1865, was pre- 
pared with care, and put in print. These articles appeared in the Citizen, and the Citizen and 
Round Table; in Foley's I'olunteer, and Soldiers' and Sailors' Half-Dime Tales 0/ the late 
Rebellion: in Mayne Reid's magazine Omiinrd; in Chaplain Bourne's Soldiers' Friend: in "La Royale 
or Grand Hunt [or the L.ist Campaign] 0/ the Army of the Potomae, from Petersburg to Appomat- 
tox Court House, April 2-9. 1865," illustrated with engraved likenesses of several of the prominent 
Generals belonging to the corps, and careful maps and plans ; in the life of Major-General Philip 
Kearny; in the "Third Corps at Gettysburg ; General Sickles Vindicated" • ♦ Vol. I., Nos. xi., 
xii., xiii. The I'olunteer: in a Speech delivered before the Third Army Corps Union, 5th May, 
1871 profusely illustrated with portraits of Generals who commanded, or belonged to that organiza- 
tion, Ac. These arranged and condensed would constitute a work of five or six volumes 8vo., 
such as those prepared by Prof. John W. Draper, entitled the "Civil War in America," but were 
never given as bound volumes to the public, because the expense was so great that the author, 
who merely writes for credit and amusement, was unwilling to assume the l.irger outlay, in addition 
to what he had already expended on the purchase of authorities, clerk-hire, printing, &c., &c. 



-ii. 



-«..>- 




^.* ^-^^ 



Rrancesca da Rimini, I 



r:^-^ 







Fr^ANGESGA DA I^IMINi; 



Dante's Inferno, Canto V., Verses 73-123.^ 

AN ATTEMPT AT A LITEKAL TRANSLATION IN BLANK VERSE. 



" Jerusalem renieiiibercd, in the days of her affliction and of lier miseries, all lier 
pleasant things that she had in the days of old." 

La.MENI AllONS OF JerEMIAH. 

"Comfort? Comfort scorn'd of devils ! this is Truth the poet sings, 
That a sorrow s crotvn of sorrow is re iiioitbering- happier things." 

Tennyson's " Locksley Hail." 

Dante to Viruil. — ''Poet, gladly 

Would I accost those two w^ho float together. 
And seem to sweep so buoyant on the wind ! " 

Virgil. To me replymg, '*Thoa shalt see," he said, 
''When they draw near; then coniidence invite 
By that great love thatguides them, and they'll come. ' ' 

Dante. Soon as the eddy wafts them near to us, 
I raise my voice, "Oh, spirits worn with grief. 
Approach and speak if answer naught forbid. '- 
As doves incited by desire, with wings 
Firm and distended, tiy to welcome nest. 
Cleave through the air and onward borne by will, 



3 

So these, from throng which crowded Dido round, 
Approach us through the evil atmosphere. 

Francesca. "Oh, mortal creature, gracious and benign. 
Who visits us through black, empurpled air, 
We, who, witli blood [our own] distain'd the earth, 
If friendly He, who rules the universe. 
Our prayers we'll offer to Him for thy peace, 
Seeing thou pitiest our misfortune dire ; 
( )f what it pleases thee to hear and speak. 
We will both listen and [in turn] relate, 
While yet the wind ceases to interrupt. 
The city^ where [Francesca], I, was born. 
Is seated on the coast where Po descends. 
To rest in peace with tributary streams. ' 
Love, that instinctive springs in gentle heart, ^ 
Made him a captive with the gracious form. 
Of which I was bereft in way still grieves ; * 

Love, which to no one lov'd admits excuse 
From loving [in return] fill'd me with such delight. 
That e'en now, as thou see'st, it leaves me not. 
Love led us to one death. The loAvest hell^ 
Awaits tlu' murd'i-ous hand' that (luencli'd «^>urliv('s" — 

Dante. These were the very words address'd to us. 

( jTo YiiujU. ) "'Ah, what sweet thoughts, what mutual desire 

Brought these two lovers to such woful pass? " 
* * * * 

{To Francesca.) 

Thy torments, oh, Francesca, make me weep 

And call forth tears of pity and of grief; 

But tell me how, in time of the sweet sighs 



And in what manner Love reveal' d to yon 
Desires, uncertain yet, that fill'd yonr hearts." 
Francesca. Then she replied, " There is no greater pang 
Than to recall the happy times by-gone 
In present wretchedness; thy guide knows this ; 
But if* thou dost desire, eagerly, to learn 
The earliest germination of our love, 
I will't impart, as one who weeps -and tells. 
One day for pastime, we, together, read 
Of Lancelot,^ and how Jove enthrall'd him. 
We sat alone all innocent of guile : 
Oft what M^e read coinpell'd our eyes to meet 
And made the blood sviiFuse or quit our cheeks ;'* 
One thought it w^as did both us overcome, 
When read we how the smile desiring fondly 
For kiss of such a lover [Lancelot] 
He [Paolo] who from me shall parted never be, 
Kiss'd me upon the mouth^° all tremblingly: — 
The book — the author it was Galeotto — 
After tliat kiss we read that day no more." 

J. W. DE P. 





q-._^3r-^ — p 
-| NOTES j- 

' The same idea is to be found in Boothius — Dante — Chaucer. For 
an ilhistnition see Bolin's "J. C. Wriglit's Translation of Dante, Flax- 
man's Illustrations." Sketch, "The Lovers Punished," p. 23. 

This episode of Franccsca da Rimini has been translated by a number 
of English poets ; among these, last and greatest, Hyron. Even Carlyle 
lias tried his hand at it ; but none have succeeded in giving the force of 
the original — the concise, yet excpiisitely fender, comprehensiveness of 
the Dinna Commediit. This endeavor aims at condensing this transla- 
tion into as few words as the Italian and yet afford a full development 
of the sense. Dante was perhaps the most original of all poets, and yet he 
l)orrowed from the Bible many ideas wliich give his verses strength, 
while others have borrowed from him and lost the force of tlie original. 

* Canto V. of D.\nte'8 "Jnferno" treats of "The Second Circle, or 
proper commencement of Hell, and Minos, the Infernal Judge, at its 
entrance. It contains the .souls of carnal sinners and their punisimient 
consists in being driven about incessantly, in total darkness, by fierce 
winds. First among theiu comes Semiramis the Babylonian queen, Dido, 
Cleopatra, Helena, Achilles, Paris, and a great multitude of others pass 
in succession." 

"Dante is overcome and bewildered with pity at the sight of thcni, 
when his attention is suddenly attracted to Two Spirits that keep to- 
gether and seem strangely light u|)om the wind. He is unable to speak 
for some time, after finding that it is France.'^ca of Rimini, with her 
lover Paolo, and falls to the ground, as if dead, when he has heard the 
painful story. Francesca was tlie daughter of (iuido Vecchio da Polenta. 
Lord of Ravenna, and was given in marriage to Gianciotto, or Giovanni 
Sciancato (John the lame, or hipshot), eldest son of Malatesta Vecchio, 
Lord or Tyrant of Rimini. Paolo, her lover, was a younger son of 
Malatesta. They were surprised and slain together by the husband, 
about the year 1288 ; and buried in the same grave. Guido Novello. 
the true and generous friend with whom Dante resided at Ravenna. wa.>* 
the son of Francesca"s brother, Ostagio da Polenta." 

" The facts^of Francesca's story are given by Hieronymus Rubens, in 



6 

his Hist. Raveunat. Venetiis, 1572, fol.: lib.:vi., p. 808-9. The genea- 
logy of the Guidos is given at tlie end, and completely agrees with and 
explains all that is said respecting them by Boccaccio, Benvenuto da 
Imola, and the other early commentators. A later edition (1603) of the 
same work places the death of Francescaand her lover at the commence- 
ment of the year 1289. In the first edition it is placed between 1287 and 
1289."— Cari.ylr. 

^ Ravenna. 

* " With sequent streams seeking rest in the sea " [Adriatic]. — Carey. 

^ Love through the eye ; the love of inexperienced youth is some- 
thing like Mary Stuart's sudden, insane, soon-repented passion for Darn- 
ley. There is another instantaneous love, like that Shakspeare depicts 
in Romeo and Juliet : 

"The tire of love in gentle heart is caught. 
As virtue in the precious stone." 
Or, better ; 

"The light of love in gentle heart's reflected, 
As is the sunlight in a drop of dew." 

' Caina.— Cain's place in the lowest circle of Hell, occupied by fratri- 
cides, etc. Canto XXVH. 

' By the murderous stroke of Lanciotto, malformed husband of 
Francesca and brother of Paolo. 

* " Lancelot of the Lake, in the old Romances of the Round Table, 
is described as "the greatest knight of all the world," and his love for 
Queen Guenever, or Ginevra, is infinite. Galeotto, Galishant, or Sir 
Galahad, is he who gives such a detailed declaration of Lancelot's love 
to the Queen, and is to them, in the romance, what the book and its 
author are here to Francesca and Paolo." — Carlyle. 

' Any man who has been in love, and as yet uncertain of his fate, if 
his observation was vivid and his memory tenacious, he must recall the 
alternating flushes of hope and the pallid ashen of despair, while await- 
ing the spoken or silent reply of word or act that crowned his hopes or 
precipitated them into the abyss of despair. 

''II Rim d'Iddio," "The smile of the deity,' the dawn of love; 
the smile never seen but at the very moment of the inception of love, 
or perhaps the perception of love's living existence, when the lips part 
with the intensest earnestness of desire to express all that the heart 
feels and yet cannot, from the very inadequacy of words, while the 
wliole face is irradiated with a glory and a sentiment it has never shown 



Lelore uiui i« never to know again. This is ihc smile to whieli Dunte 
refers, and avI.icIi no one can recognize l)iit one wlio has loved in the M- 
lesl signilication of love. 

'" Tile "Iviss upon ihe nioutli • lias inspired some ol tlie finest poetry 
m every language, heathen, Mahoniedan and modern. A few illustra 
tions must sufHce, viz.: 

Queen. "Fain would I tell ihee what I feel within. 

But Shame and Modesty have ty'd my Tongue ! 
\et, I will tell, that thou may'st weep with me. 
J low dear, how sweet his first Embraces were ! 
With what a Zeol hejoMd hin IJpx to mine! 
And sucked lui/ Breath <it erery Word I npolce. 
As if he drew his luspiratio/i thence : 
While both our Souls eaine upwitrd to our Month.'', 
As neighboring Monarchs at their Borders meet : 
1 thought : Oh, no ; 'Tis false : I could not think, 
Twas neither Life nor Death, but both in one." 

Duvdkn's -'Spanish Fri/ar." 

" My heart can kiss no heart but thine. 
And if tliese lips but larely pine 

In tlie pale abstinence of .sorrow, 
It is that nightly I divine. 
As I this world-sick soul recline, 

I shall be with thee ere the morrow." 

" \N e had talked long ; and then a silence came. 
And in the topmo.st firs 
To her ne.st the white dove floated like a flame ; 

And my lips closed on hers 
Who was the only she, 
. And in one girl all womanhood to me." 

•M.VKIAN. " You are a wanton." 

Homx lloou. '-One I do confess 

I irant-ei] till you came ; but now I have vou 
I'll grow to your embnices till two souls. 
Distilled into kis.ses through our lips 
Do make one spirit of love." 

•' 'Sweet Helen, make me imniorlal with a kiss ;" " 
Her lips suck forth my .soul : see, where it flies. 
■ Oh, let me live forever on those lips ! 
The nectar of the gods to these is tasteless." " 



In an old Latin religious commentary in my poissession, published in 
1565, i. e. over three hundred years ago, and just about seventy-five years 
before my people came to this countiy, the following note occurs on the 
first words of Solomon's '"Song of Songs," I., 3. (Read in this connec- 
tion verses 2, 3, 10, 11, Chap. IV.; verses 13 and 16, Chap. V.; verse 9, 
Chap. VII.) : " Vere amat, qui vere dat oscvlum." I translate the Latin 
of the original, "He truly loves who [knows how to give a kiss truly, 
or] truly kisses. For tlie spirit poured forth our heart finds the ambas 
sador of real love in a kiss. Thus [through such a kiss] we learn the 
truth and that the love thus expressed is not a feigned passion." 

Curious truth to be found in an old monkish Latin commentary 
upon Solomon's Hebrew idyl, which is said to be the loveliest of the 
kind ever written. It is lovely if properly read. The description of 
Spring, in Chapter II., verses 11 — 13, is not susceptible of improvement. 
Those who seek for evil everywhere may find much that is suggestive in 
Solomon, but, rightly taken, there is more that isunmistakeablypure and 
sweet. 

" Last night, when some one spoke his name. 

From my swift blood that went and came 

A thousand little shafts of flame. 

Were shiver'd in my narrow frame. 

Love, Of re! once lie drew 

With one lonr/ kiss, mil 'whole soul thro' 
My lips, as suulir/ht drinketh dew. 

" My whole soul waiting silently. 
All naked, in a sultry sky, 
Droops blinded with his shining eye ; 

1 will possess him or will die. 

I will grow round him in his place, 
C4row, love, die, looking on his face, 
Die, dying clasp'd in his embrace." 

Tennyson's " Fatimay 




